New Delhi: India have navigated their women’s T20 Asia Cup campaign with relative ease, but the semi-final against Bangladesh in Dubai on Thursday could test a few areas that have remained untested amid a string of wins.
It was the same few areas that got exposed on a bigger stage at the T20 World Cup, and while they still dominate within Asia, teams like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have a habit of springing a few upsets, especially in this format.
The top order and spin attack have been India’s primary weapons and are likely to remain so in the semi-final. Yet, as has been the case on occasions when victories tend to paper over shortcomings, India’s middle order has been far from convincing.
The batting has stuttered, most notably when India lost eight wickets for 46 runs against Thailand first up in the tournament. Different players have stood up in different matches—Sree Charani and other spinners took centre stage against Pakistan, while Smriti Mandhana’s class proved decisive against Hong Kong. The pace department too has been held together by the relatively inexperienced Kranti Gaud and Nandani Sharma.
Pratika Rawal, drafted into the squad as replacement for the injured Jemimah Rodrigues, is yet to fully dispel apprehensions surrounding her ability in the shortest format. A semi-final against Bangladesh offers her a significant opportunity to do so, with India likely to want greater assurance from their middle order as the stakes rise.
On the eve of the match, Shafali Verma acknowledged that India’s batters have had their share of off days, but backed the depth in the line-up.
“I would say there’s a bit of bad days, but they all are very good players, they’re all very good batters. And just talking about Bharti (Fulmali) and Richa (Ghosh), they all are very good finishers,” she said.
Bangladesh, who edged past UAE to seal their place in the last four, will draw confidence from history as they prepare to take on India. Sharmin Akter said the team is taking inspiration from 2018, when Bangladesh famously won the Asia Cup after beating India in both the group stage and the final in Malaysia.
Much has changed since then. India have dominated their head-to-head equation with 12 wins in 13 meetings. On Thursday, Marufa Akter is likely to be Bangladesh’s biggest threat with the ball. She has struck in her opening spell in all three of her matches in the tournament, using swing to trouble batters. India have their own formidable match-winners with the ball. Deepti Sharma and Sree Charani have been central to their success with spin.
