Match two of the World Cup Qualifiers for India and another
easy victory. This time, they trounced Ireland by 125 runs at the P. Sara Oval
in Colombo on Friday (February 10), but to be honest, I think India will be
disappointed with the way they played. A solid opening stand was followed by
some tame batting at the back- end of the innings that took some sheen off an
easy win.
The openers
For the second match in succession Deepti Sharma held her own as an opener, scoring a fluent half-century, but this time she had the company of MD Thirushkamini (who replaced Mona Mesham from the first game), the 26 year-old left-hander, who has been in and out of the playing XI for the last 12 months. The pair strung together a 174-run partnership against an Irish attack that didn’t really look like they had the firepower to take wickets. At the start, it was Thirush who played the more attacking role with Deepti taking her time to settle in. Once the 19-year old reached her half-century she began to accelerate, taking some pressure off her senior partner who seemed to have suddenly lost her timing.
For the second match in succession Deepti Sharma held her own as an opener, scoring a fluent half-century, but this time she had the company of MD Thirushkamini (who replaced Mona Mesham from the first game), the 26 year-old left-hander, who has been in and out of the playing XI for the last 12 months. The pair strung together a 174-run partnership against an Irish attack that didn’t really look like they had the firepower to take wickets. At the start, it was Thirush who played the more attacking role with Deepti taking her time to settle in. Once the 19-year old reached her half-century she began to accelerate, taking some pressure off her senior partner who seemed to have suddenly lost her timing.
The pair played some exquisite shots both down the ground
and square of the wicket—Thirush’s straight drive off Amy Kenealy, and Deepti’s
powerful hoick over mid-wicket off Kim Garth (that came out of nowhere),
probably the pick of them.
Thirushkamini and the
‘World Cup’
There is something about Thirushkamini and the World Cup. She may not have set the world alight in her first appearance in the world tournament in 2009, but in 2013, Thirush became the first Indian woman to score a century in the World Cup when she reached that mark against West Indies in India’s opening game of their campaign. It was her first game in almost 18 months, having missed the previous season due to injury, and the left-hander made a strong statement with a fantastic hundred. Once again, with her place on the line, Thirush smashed the hapless Ireland bowlers all around the park on rout to her second ODI century. Her unbeaten 113 (146) included 11 fours and four sixes, showcasing her ability to both time and pummel the ball. It may not have been her most fluent knock, but she pushed through some tough periods and managed to bat through the innings. These may just be qualifying matches, but it seems the ‘World Cup’ brings the best out of Thirush.
There is something about Thirushkamini and the World Cup. She may not have set the world alight in her first appearance in the world tournament in 2009, but in 2013, Thirush became the first Indian woman to score a century in the World Cup when she reached that mark against West Indies in India’s opening game of their campaign. It was her first game in almost 18 months, having missed the previous season due to injury, and the left-hander made a strong statement with a fantastic hundred. Once again, with her place on the line, Thirush smashed the hapless Ireland bowlers all around the park on rout to her second ODI century. Her unbeaten 113 (146) included 11 fours and four sixes, showcasing her ability to both time and pummel the ball. It may not have been her most fluent knock, but she pushed through some tough periods and managed to bat through the innings. These may just be qualifying matches, but it seems the ‘World Cup’ brings the best out of Thirush.
Getting the ball rolling
There was never any danger of Ireland getting close to India’s score of 250, but to reduce them to 2 for 2 in 2.1 overs certainly knocked the wind out of their sails. Shikha Pandey’s opening burst was extremely impressive. The 27-year old struck off the first ball of the innings, trapping Shauna Kavanagh plumb in front of the stumps. She got the ball to hoop around which was a pleasure to watch. In the domestic circuit, Shikha is known for her ability to strike with the new ball as a genuine swing bowler and that’s precisely what she did on Friday. She pitched the ball up, got it to swing at decent pace and the Irish top order didn’t really have an answer to her accurate in-swingers. The yorker she bowled to dismiss Kim Garth, one of Ireland's best batters, was certainly the delivery of the day. 5-3-2-2—pretty good way to start the innings!
There was never any danger of Ireland getting close to India’s score of 250, but to reduce them to 2 for 2 in 2.1 overs certainly knocked the wind out of their sails. Shikha Pandey’s opening burst was extremely impressive. The 27-year old struck off the first ball of the innings, trapping Shauna Kavanagh plumb in front of the stumps. She got the ball to hoop around which was a pleasure to watch. In the domestic circuit, Shikha is known for her ability to strike with the new ball as a genuine swing bowler and that’s precisely what she did on Friday. She pitched the ball up, got it to swing at decent pace and the Irish top order didn’t really have an answer to her accurate in-swingers. The yorker she bowled to dismiss Kim Garth, one of Ireland's best batters, was certainly the delivery of the day. 5-3-2-2—pretty good way to start the innings!
Shikha was ably supported by Mansi Joshi, making her ODI
debut, who was unlucky not to have Laura Delany caught behind. Mansi
complemented her opening partner well, shaping the ball away from the batters
and hurrying them with her deceptive pace.
The second ‘keeper
If India were ever worried about going into the Qualifiers with only one ‘keeper, they have found a solution! When Sushma Verma went off the field with what looked like a niggle in the lower part of her leg, it was Veda Krishnamurthy who took the gloves for India. She didn’t look to out of place behind the stumps although her hands were slightly wider apart than most ‘keepers! Luckily the bowlers didn’t test her too much and bowled right on the stumps. They waited for Sush’s return to start tossing the ball a little wider!
If India were ever worried about going into the Qualifiers with only one ‘keeper, they have found a solution! When Sushma Verma went off the field with what looked like a niggle in the lower part of her leg, it was Veda Krishnamurthy who took the gloves for India. She didn’t look to out of place behind the stumps although her hands were slightly wider apart than most ‘keepers! Luckily the bowlers didn’t test her too much and bowled right on the stumps. They waited for Sush’s return to start tossing the ball a little wider!
A (slight) cause of concern
When setting a target, the theory in men’s cricket is to double what you have at the 30-over mark…. Or is it 35? So one would assume that in women’s cricket, 100 runs in the last 15 overs is possible—considering of course, that you have wickets in hand. On Friday, India didn’t lose a wicket till the 40th over. Against a mediocre bowling attack, with the ammunition India possessed in their batting line-up, 100 runs in the last 10 overs wasn’t out of their reach. It won’t be the fact that they didn’t reach a target of 270 or 280 that will irk them; just the way they went about scoring runs in the last 10 overs. Apart from Veda, who tried to get a move on, none of the batters even attempted to play a big shot or push between the wickets. There seemed to be no desire to crush the opposition and give them absolutely no chance to win. India appeared happy with where they were placed and unwilling to go out of their comfort zone and aim for a higher total. Where was that desire to dominate that they had shown glimpses of in Australia?
When setting a target, the theory in men’s cricket is to double what you have at the 30-over mark…. Or is it 35? So one would assume that in women’s cricket, 100 runs in the last 15 overs is possible—considering of course, that you have wickets in hand. On Friday, India didn’t lose a wicket till the 40th over. Against a mediocre bowling attack, with the ammunition India possessed in their batting line-up, 100 runs in the last 10 overs wasn’t out of their reach. It won’t be the fact that they didn’t reach a target of 270 or 280 that will irk them; just the way they went about scoring runs in the last 10 overs. Apart from Veda, who tried to get a move on, none of the batters even attempted to play a big shot or push between the wickets. There seemed to be no desire to crush the opposition and give them absolutely no chance to win. India appeared happy with where they were placed and unwilling to go out of their comfort zone and aim for a higher total. Where was that desire to dominate that they had shown glimpses of in Australia?
I understand the pressure one faces when playing for their
place. When you are faced with such insecurities, your judgement is often clouded, because
every chance feels like your last. You feel like you have to do something big
to cement your spot before you can entirely focus on the team’s requirements—it
is only natural. In women’s cricket, especially in India, because of the way we
play (take your time to settle in and they attempt to accelerate), when the team requires a bit of a push, more often than not, at least one batter is
approaching a personal milestone. The situation is a double edged sword…
In India’s first match, against Sri Lanka, once Devika
Vaidya reached her 50 (her first in ODIs), she was clearly trying to accelerate playing more
attacking shots than she had in the first half of her innings. She was
dismissed for 89 and people said that there was a century ‘for the taking’. Had
she slowed down slightly (as is natural for someone who has not scored too many
hundreds) and reached her century people may have said she was playing for
personal glory.
Either way, it is not one or two batters who must
take responsibility for the subdued approach, but the entire batting unit. It is that kind of lack of intent that will hurt the Indian team against better sides. When you are in a position
to dominate, why not take it? If India had tried to accelerate and lost wickets
in the process it would have been okay. They had no chance of losing
anyway—Ireland were never realistically in the contest once India reached 200.
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