Women's WC: Had to drop Jemimah to get balance right, says Smriti

Indore, Oct 20 (IANS) When India’s team sheet came after being put into bowling first by England in a crucial 2025 Women's ODI World Cup clash at the Holkar Stadium, everyone was left jaw-dropped when India’s keenly awaited tactical reshuffle resulted in Jemimah Rodrigues being left out.

In a bid to bolster the bowling attack and go in with six bowlers, something which they faced criticism before, India opted to leave out a specialist batter in Jemimah and bring in seamer Renuka Singh Thakur.

The move reflected India’s intent to strengthen their bowling and use the seamer’s inswinger to rattle England’s line-up, even though it came at the cost of sacrificing batting depth in a high-stakes encounter.

The bold move didn’t really pay off as a usually disciplined Renuka didn’t have much command on her inswing. With the inswing not being really accurate, Renuka also drifted down the legside and even gave width to Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones to get boundaries easily.

Though the 125-run partnership between Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur steadied India’s chase and momentarily masked Jemimah’s absence, they ultimately fell just short by four runs. In the post-game presser, Smriti admitted the move to leave out Jemimah for Renuka was a tough one, but done for the sake of team balance.

“In the last two matches, for sure, we thought that five bowling options are not good enough especially on a flat track like Indore or how maybe the Vishakhapatnam second match played (against Australia). So, five bowling options means we are not privileged enough to have our batters who could bowl few overs, which a lot of other teams can do that.

“So, for sure on a flatter track, we thought that five bowling options, especially if one bowler has a bad day, it really costs us a lot. It was definitely a very tough call to drop a player like Jemi. But sometimes you need to do those sort of things in terms of getting the balance right. But, again, it's not like this is going to be there - we'll have to see how the situation is, how the wicket will play and then we'll take a call,” she said.

India fielded what was arguably their strongest eleven in the World Cup against England, and the narrow defeat did not necessarily indict the strategy. Head coach Amol Muzumdar’s decision to include an extra bowler over Jemimah was a calculated call, but it’s one that now faces scrutiny in hindsight.

Ironically, the four-run loss to England may prompt a return for Jemimah in the next fixture, a virtual quarter-final against New Zealand in Navi Mumbai, as India search for ideal balance and batting depth to keep their semi-final hopes alive.

The other positive thing for India was Deepti Sharma delivering a controlled spell to finish with figures of 4-51 in her 10 overs, including 24 dot balls. Introduced after England’s strong start, Deepti broke the momentum with her trademark flight and stump-to-stump lines.

Her first breakthrough came in the 16th over, dismissing Tammy Beaumont with a drifting delivery that beat the sweep and crashed into leg stump – also making the England opener her 150th ODI wicket. She followed it up by luring Amy Jones her into a mistimed flick and was caught by short mid-on.

Deepti’s ability to outthink batters was on full display in the 46th over, when she anticipated Alice Capsey shaping for a reverse sweep and adjusted her line and pace well to force her into giving a catch off a top-edge. Emma Lamb’s failed attempt to clear long-on handed Deepti her fourth wicket, and made her stand apart from other Indian bowlers.

“Deepti has been brilliant for us. In the last 10 odd years she's played, she got her 150th ODI wicket. It's becoming a habit for her to play every match and break some record. But her all-round capacity, especially in one-day cricket, the way she can bat and also bowl and read the situation has been amazing and I feel she's done a good job for us in the World Cup and I hope it keeps continuing,” added Smriti.

–IANS

nr/bc