Top News

Standing by Harmanpreet Kaur remains a choice for India’s head coach, Amol Muzumdar, even after the team left the Women’s T20 World Cup early. Their journey ended with a loss – beaten by six wickets – when facing Australia, led that day by Sophie Molineux. It happened at Lord’s Cricket Ground, a venue seeing its first women’s T20 international, set on Sunday, June 28.

After the loss, someone questioned Muzumdar about Harmanpreet staying on as captain. Though he pointed out that pickers hold the real power, the ex-India domestic star stressed his support for keeping the seasoned leader at the helm. Still, choices lie beyond just one voice.

Amol Muzumdar highlights India’s biggest areas for improvement

Out there chasing better results, India’s effort drew attention to shaky bowling and slipshod fielding. A sharper mindset when batting might’ve tipped things differently. Runs were split in chunks, especially against Australia, and showed missed chances. Instead of calm play, bold swings earlier could’ve helped. Those extra 15 to 20 runs, not small at all – they hovered near turning points. Closer edges like that often reshape entire games.

“If I have to pinpoint the key areas from the entire tournament, I think we really need to work on our bowling and fielding. We also need to be a little more aggressive with the bat. Maybe we could have had an extra 15-20 runs as a cushion,” Muzumdar said.

Still, the head coach kept faith in what lies ahead for India’s bowlers, calling them a young group that simply requires patience to grow.

“Having said that, if you look at our bowling attack, it’s still very inexperienced at the international level. I’ve said this before as well, give us 18 months and this bowling attack will be a very different one,” he added.

Off to a strong start, India beat Pakistan, then followed up with a victory against the Netherlands at the Women’s T20 World Cup. A loss came later, though – South Africa proved tough in Manchester. Still in it, Harmanpreet Kaur’s team regrouped and took down Bangladesh in a must-win match. That result keeps their hopes alive for reaching the semifinals.

Still, India could not get past Australia when it really mattered. Putting up a solid score of 170/4 didn’t help much because the bowling side cracked under pressure. Chasing down the runs, Australia reached the mark with five deliveries left. That finish shut the door on India’s chance to make the semifinals.