India coach Amol Muzumdar calls for T20 strategy rethink after Women’s World Cup exit

Following a disappointing group-stage exit at the Women's T20 World Cup, India head coach Amol Muzumdar has called for a complete strategic overhaul, admitting the team delivered below-par performances in bowling, fielding, and powerplay execution

London:  India head coach Amol Muzumdar admitted that the side will have to rethink its approach in the shortest format after a disappointing Women’s T20 World Cup campaign which ended in a group-stage exit, saying and Co were below par in all three departments throughout the tournament.

Needing a win to qualify for the semifinals, India failed to defend 170 against six-time champions Australia and crashed out in the league stage for the second successive edition here on Sunday,

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“We really have to rethink our strategy or our T20 game. We really need to put our heads around what combination we are going to play,” Muzumdar told reporters after the loss.

While India recorded comfortable wins over Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Netherlands, defeats to fellow semifinal contenders South Africa and Australia exposed several shortcomings.

“If I have to pinpoint on certain things in the entire tournament, I think we really need to think about our bowling and our fielding. We also need to be a little aggressive with the bat, and we could have maybe 15-20 runs as cushion (against Australia),” the coach said.

Muzumdar felt India’s total was competitive but conceded that Australia were the better side on the day.

“I thought it was a good score, a par score on this pitch. We even got the momentum towards the end of that innings, and I think we carried it on the field as well. It’s just that I think at the end of the day, Australia were a better side than us.”

In reality, India’s batting never quite clicked throughout the tournament. Despite regular contributions from the top order, the middle order repeatedly failed to capitalise on good starts, losing wickets in clusters and allowing the opposition to regain control.

Asked if India could have upped in the ante in the powerplay against Australia where they managed just 43/0, Muzumdar said “Yes, we could have had.”

“I mean, every time you lose a game, you would want 10-15 runs more in the pocket, but I guess that wasn’t the case. Of course, the powerplay didn’t really go our way. It could have gone maybe 10-15 runs more at that time. Maybe that could have been the difference.

“But having said that, we hadn’t lost any wicket then, so we were in total control of things. But as I said, I think Australia chased it down really well. They were also three wickets down (at the halfway mark), mind you,” he added.

India’s inability to settle on a pace-bowling combination also hurt their campaign. The team used multiple seam bowling combinations during the five group matches, with Nandani Sharma and Kranti Gaud playing three games each, while Renuka Singh and Arundhati Reddy featured in two matches apiece.

The coach, however, urged patience with a relatively inexperienced attack.

“If you look at our bowling attack, it’s been very inexperienced as far as international cricket is concerned. So I’ve said this before in the previous press conference that give us 18 months and this attack will be a different one.”

Muzumdar also felt the absence of off-spinner Shreyanka Patil, who was ruled out midway through the tournament with an ankle injury, was a significant setback.

“And also, it didn’t help Shreyanka not being there. Shreyanka was probably one of our strikers. So it didn’t help her missing out on half of the tournament. We really missed her in this game today. ”

Fielding was another area of concern for India. The team dropped catches galore, which proved costly.