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India just about scrapped past Ireland in their last league game to qualify for the ICC Women's T20 World Cup semifinals. They won by just five runs by the DLS method, meaning had Ireland beaten the Women in Blue, the latter were in danger of being knocked out of the tournament.
This information is enough for anyone to understand that India's journey in the tournament hasn't been comfortable by any stretch of the imagination. Amidst all these doubts, there lies a potential challenge to topple arguably the best team ever assembled in women's cricketing history in Australia to progress to the final.
The Women in Blue had their moments during the Commonwealth Games against Australia, but couldn't get the job done under pressure. They also lost the home T20Is 4-1 to the same opposition and will understandably go into the semifinal encounter as underdogs.
However, if India want to give themselves a genuine chance of beating Australia in a crunch game, they will need to sort out the three following issues in their campaign so far:
#3 Inconsistency from the spinners
Spinners from most countries have enjoyed conditions in the Women's T20 World Cup so far in South Africa and that makes India's inconsistency in this department baffling.
Left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad has failed to pick up a single wicket in the tournament. Deepti Sharma was brilliant with the ball against the West Indies but conceded 37 runs against England in her four overs.
Radha Yadav has been impressive in the tournament so far, but the performances of other spinners have raised question marks on leaving someone like Sneh Rana out of the main squad. Indian spinners will need to provide support to pacer Renuka Singh Thakur and be at their best in the semifinals.
#2 Lack of help for Richa Ghosh in the middle-order
Richa Ghosh has been one of India's best players in the tournament so far. She has been brilliant under pressure and played vital knocks in their wins over Pakistan and West Indies in the first two games.
While it seems like she has settled nicely at No.5, Richa isn't getting much support from the lower middle order. India needed 34 runs off 14 balls against England but could score just three runs in their next eight balls, which is inexplicable.
The likes of Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar and others will need to realize that their contribution with the bat is equally important and they will have to find a way to stitch important partnerships.
#1 Overdependence on Smriti Mandhana
Smriti Mandhana's sparkling 87 against Ireland is good news for India heading into a knockout game. But the fact that other batters in the top order aren't able to score freely is something that's hurting the team.
The loss against England by just 11 runs is a perfect example of how batting with a poor strike rate hurt the Women in Blue. Scores of 8(11) and 24(29) from an explosive batter like Shafali Verma are not good enough. She needs to take it upon herself and score quickly to take the pressure off Mandhana.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur promoted herself to No.3 in the last game, but scored just 13 runs in the 20 balls that she faced. Jemimah Rodrigues has found some form in this tournament but will need to bring consistency to her game. These mistakes in the batting could easily end up costing the team another chance to win an ICC trophy.
