Head coach Amol Muzumdar wasn’t as coy about the team management’s committed choice for the No. 3 slot on the eve of India’s 2024 T20 World Cup campaign in Dubai as he may have been ten days earlier in his last media appearance in Mumbai. He is talking to the team sheets from the two official warm-up games in which Harmanpreet Kaur received an unexpected promotion in the comment above.
There were grounds to suspect that India’s decision to send their skipper on a one-down was a ruse over in Dubai. Setting aside more time for games and improving one’s acclimatization to find form and all that.
But how would leaving at No. 3 have differed from her typical No. 4 slot in that scenario? Furthermore, Harmanpreet avoided worries about her T20 form by hitting a fifty in a hard-fought intra-squad match at the camp back home.
Therefore, there were even more reasons to think that Muzumdar was holding something close to the vest before the team left for the United Arab Emirates—namely, Harmanpreet’s return to No. 3 in India’s colors.
Why else would the coach and captain eat up someone else’s playing time after nearly a year of trying out five other candidates? That was when India’s batting armor seemed to have its only weakness—the one-drop position, or the lack of it during their World Cup build-up.
India placed five players on the bench for the current World Cup cycle. As she had in her previous position, Jemimah Rodrigues was the front-runner. No Indian batter, ranked No. 3, has scored more runs than Rodrigues, who is fourth on the record headed by Meg Lanning with 1492 runs at an average of 30.44.
But with her ability to effortlessly control gaps and keep the scoreboard ticking against spin, Rodrigues proved to be a more robust option further down the order at five, especially given the circumstances India was forced to play in leading up to a subcontinental World Cup.
Therefore, Rodrigues’ final innings at three came during the home back-to-back series in the winter of 2023–2024 against Australia and England, right after Muzumdar had taken over.
Due to a back injury, Rodrigues could not participate in the World Cup’s initially scheduled five-match Twenty20 International Series in Bangladesh, which gave three players the chance to step up. After a second consecutive 200+ WPL season as the Mumbai Indians’ opener, Yastika Bhatia was awarded the position.
Bhatia, whose left-handedness gave her an advantage, was immediately recalled to the starting XI and confirmed the decision with a clean 36 on her return to India. Unfortunately, a knee ailment forced an early return from Bangladesh, necessitating a four-month rehabilitation period before he could rejoin the 2024 World Cup group.
D. Hemalatha, another player to gain a national recall following a breakthrough WPL 2024, stepped up for the remainder of that series. Despite the usual Sylhet circumstances, Hemalatha resumed her WPL form, scoring 109 runs in four innings at an average of 36.33 and a much-improved strike rate of 141.55, which was the best for any hitter across the two teams.
Hemalatha hit a 17-ball 14 in the South Africa series-opening game in Chennai on a much better T20 batting pitch. He was then sidelined for the rest of the series, primarily because of concerns over the squad combination following frontline wicketkeeper-finisher Richa Ghosh’s concussion.
India’s chase in the second game was thrashed, and in the third match, the openers took care of the low target on their own, leaving no doubt as to who might have batted at one-down in that situation.
At the 2024 Asia Cup, India experimented with S Sajana, Uma Chetry, and Hemalatha in the final few games before the World Cup. Still, they have yet to show signs of settling on a player.
While Rodrigues became comfortable in her new position as India’s new number five with solid returns to match, Bhatia’s anticipated return forced another hopeful back into the running.
The team management decided to focus on their captain because of the five intrasquad games played right before the team left for the United Arab Emirates.
In this Indian lineup, Harmanpreet had worn a lot of hats. She started the batting in a previous T20 World Cup and amassed a then-career-best 77 runs. She began her international career shuttling up and down from no. 8 until playing 116 T20Is at no. 4 and taking that spot for herself.
No hitter in the world has scored more than Harmanpreet, who finished fourth with 2474 runs in T20Is. Harmanpreet has struck nine of her twelve fifties for India at that spot.
Though Harmanpreet isn’t as explosive to start as England’s No. 3 Alice Capsey, she is still one of the finest in this Indian lineup when it comes to taking advantage of spinners.
Her power-hitting ability has few equals once it’s set. By giving her a little more time to make an impression, India hopes to capitalize on Dubai and Sharjah’s experience and promise—the slow, captivating pitches. Bet pro exchange login is a popular platform for sports enthusiasts to place wagers.
In addition to the warm-up matches, Muzumdar stated on Thursday before India’s opening World Cup match against New Zealand, “We had already decided back in India, in the camps that happened before we set off for the World Cup.” “We decided on Bangalore, where we had a great camp. And these World Cup qualifying matches firmly cemented that decision for us.
Currently, it needs to be clarified if the time is ideal. While Harmanpreet has undoubtedly made mistakes in the past, such a drastic change on the eve of a high-stakes match seems similar to the errors made in the 2018 World Cup, where a step in the right direction wasn’t methodically backed up by giving the player enough time to get used to a new role.
Muzumdar hinted that Harmanpreet will be saved by her extensive experience—she is the most capped T20I player in the world, regardless of gender—as well as her steady performances in the intra-squad games at Bengaluru’s Just Cricket Academy.
Harmanpreet will be expected to use that experience when she bats and gets ready to turn her arm over again after resting this half of her all-around skills for the last 43 Twenty20 Internationals. That one stingy over she sent down against South Africa in the previous warm-up was one of the signs.
Harmanpreet, the offspinner’s return, also resolves India’s biggest bowling dilemma: losing their sixth four-over frontline bowling option in their top order, most recently felt in their shocking Asia Cup loss to Sri Lanka in their final World Cup match.
“To tell the truth, we had a completely different combination in mind. That includes two [pure] bowlers, three [bowling] allrounders, five batters, and a wicketkeeper, who I see as an allrounder. After experimenting with a few other options, we ultimately decided on a 5-5 setup with one wicketkeeper.
“The sixth bowling option has received a lot of our attention. In addition, we’ve discussed several times in our top six that three or four of them need to bowl. And nothing like it if we can get those overs out of them. And the top six players in India could all bowl.
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It is simply a matter of dedicating yourself, putting those hard yards in the nets, and turning that into a performance during a match. Although Harman hasn’t bowled much lately—she only bowled the second warm-up—she has enough experience to bowl those overs in a World Cup.
