Batting lets down Indian women in familiar conditions against visiting Aussies

VADODARA: You don’t usually win 50-over matches in India if your top six contribute 93 in normal batting conditions. From India’s point of view, that was the forgettable highlight of the first match of the women’s ODI series against Australia.

The visiting team faced little difficulty in overhauling India’s 200. Led by opener Nicole Bolton’s unbeaten 100, they put in a commanding performance against the Indian spinners on a pitch their spin duo shared seven wickets.

Electing to bat, India appeared to have started well before losing their first wicket at 38 in the 10th over. The top order missing an indisposed Mithali Raj caved in and at 87/5, it was an uphill task. It looked worse at 113/7 and only because of a partnership between Pooja Vastrakar and Sushma Verma did the bowlers get something to defend.

Even though stand-in skipper Harmanpreet Kaur mentioned failure to execute plans as a bowling unit, she also spoke about the top-order failure in batting conditions with some bounce that gave the Aussies an upper hand and lead in the series part of the ICC Women’s Championship.

“There was early moisture and the plan was to watch out the first 10 overs. But Smriti, Deepti and others threw their wickets away. We planned to rotate strike, but that also didn’t happen and in games like this that is absolutely necessary when you can’t find runs initially,” said Harmanpreet.

India were expected to do better. Their average total in the last 10 matches batting first was 260.3, in matches played in South Africa, England and India. Failure to take advantage of new fielding rules introduced by ICC was one of the factors on Monday. Under new rules, number of fielders allowed outside the circle in non-power play overs has been reduced to four from five. Only one in the top six crossing 30 meant there was nobody to exploit the fielding restrictions.

The potential to put up good totals has been a trait of this team over the last year or so. With Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Punam Raut, Mithali and Harmanpreet, this is a line-up that has scored in different conditions. Harmanpreet said they have to take responsibility in the last two games.

“At times you don’t get good starts and your lower-order clicks. This was a positive sign. But definitely, our top-five or six will have to take responsibility because you can’t always rely on the lower-order for your runs.”

The way India batters threw away their wickets looked pathetic, especially after a victorious South Africa tour, where they achieved a rare double of winning the ODI and T20I series. Though opener Raut looked in good touch, scoring a steady 37 off 50, the rest seemed intent on going for big shots. Probably the plan was to put early pressure on the Australian bowlers. Unfortunately, the strategy wasn’t executed well as there were a lot of loose shots.

srinidhi@newindianexpress.com

Brief scores: Australia women 202/2 (Bolton 100 n.o, Healy 38) bt India women 200 (Vastrakar 51, Verma 41, Jonassen 4/30, Wellington 3/24).