5 reasons why India failed to win the Women’s T20 World Cup 2020

No power-hitters in the middle-order

India does boast of a solid batting line-up but when you look down that batting order, there’s hardly anyone you can think of as a power-hitter apart from Harmanpreet Kaur. There isn't a single batter who could just walk in and smoke the first ball for four or six when needed. Shafali Verma did it at the top but no one in the middle-order could do that and at the end of the innings or when India needed some impetus in the final.

Only four batters (those who have scored more than 20 runs in this tournament) had a strike-rate in excess of 100. Shafali Verma was the only player who scored consistently at a good strike rate. Smriti Mandhana had a poor tournament but was striking at 125.64. Veda Krishnamurthy was the other player who was striking at over 100. Richa Ghosh, who played two games, including the final as a concussion substitute had a strike-rate of exactly 100.

Hence, there is a serious need for the Indian team to develop and invest in a power-hitter in the middle order. There was hardly any power in the middle and it was one of the reasons why they failed to chase down a big total.