Women’s T20 World Cup 2024: Anjum Chopra surprised by India’s number three dilemma in batting line-up

New Delhi: From the time Amol Muzumdar took over as India women’s head coach last year, India tried out six different players at number three spot in T20Is. With no one claiming the spot as theirs’, especially after Yastika Bhatia was injured, it zeroed on captain Harmanpreet Kaur to bat at number three in 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup.

But the confusion just didn’t end there. In games against New Zealand and Sri Lanka, Harmanpreet came out to bat at number three. Against Pakistan and Australia, Jemimah Rodrigues, who was slotted in at number five, was promoted to bat at three.

Former India captain Anjum Chopra termed the roulette around the side’s number three batter as ‘bizarre’ and felt it affected both Harmanpreet and Jemimah. “Absolutely bizarre. I didn’t think that that Indian team would actually be in such a conundrum. I just question, ‘why?’ I’m not questioning the team management, but I’m just questioning the scenario which I see when I sit in the commentary box or when I sit at home and watch the Indian team play - like why cause such confusion around, and what is the need for it?”

“India has always had this challenge of not promoting Harmanpreet at number three. I’ve never understood that fetish and repeatedly things have happened where she has not been sent at number three. I feel that Harman should go at number three. Maybe that’s my feeling, but I’m not the one who’s calling the shots. Rightly so, it’s the people who have to decide keeping the team’s balance into perspective and understand what is the best for the team.”

“In that scenario also, it’s best to send Harmanpreet at number three because she can control the game from the top, and gets more time. The kind of player that she is, she’ll get more time to structure it. Even if Harmanpreet was not the choice, my only thought is like we spent the entire 10-12 months looking at who that number three fit could be,” said Anjum in an exclusive conversation with IANS from Dubai.

What also left Anjum bewildered was the impact of the ‘number three’ confusion on the team dynamics. “We tried different options who don’t even figure in the playing eleven eventually. So don’t we feel that we’ve wasted all that time? When the crunch situation happened, we are looking for options again.”

“So it’s not only disturbing Harmanpreet who probably would have prepared for that position prior to the New Zealand game. I don’t think she played badly. Yes, she didn’t play for long. But the next game again, Jemimah, who’s probably preparing to play in the middle order role, is removed from that role and asked to play in the number three position.”

“So you’re actually changing two people and still not being able to do the job which is required. We’re still very conservative in our approach. If number three has to be promoted, then if not Harmanpreet, then there are batters who we call as power-hitters in that lineup. They could be promoted. Things could have been done differently.”

An aspect which also hurt India with the bat was the lack of game time for lower-order batters like Pooja Vastrakar, Deepti Sharma, Arundhati Reddy and Shreyanka Patil, which reflected when none of them hanged around for long to support Harmanpreet and take India over the line in a chase of 151 against Australia at Sharjah. IANS

Also Read: ICC Women’s T20 World Cup: New Zealand beat Pakistan, end India’s hope

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