Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Bangladesh.
These are the only opponents India have beaten in the last two Women’s T20 World Cups. For a team whose players have reached dizzying heights, especially since the arrival of the WPL in 2023, they have become less than the sum of their parts.For two T20 World Cups in a row, India – now a powerhouse in women’s football too – has failed to make the playoffs under Harmanpreet Kaur. Such is the nature of the T20 game that the team’s successes and failures must be viewed separately from the ODI World Cup glory that came to them less than eight months ago.
Apart from the breakneck speed of T20 cricket, the T20 World Cup format is also unforgiving as losing even one match can push you towards a must win. This is exactly the position India were in when they faced Australia at the end of the league stage in the last two T20 World Cups and failed to get over the line both times.
In the 2024 edition, it was the opening defeat to New Zealand that threw their campaign into disarray. This time it was numerous errors on the field against South Africa that cost them the match and significantly reduced their chances of qualifying.
“If I have to think about the whole tournament, I think we didn’t play very well against good teams and we as a group really need to rethink what we need to do against them,” Harmanpreet said after the defeat to Australia. “At times we were in the game but in the last few overs we were giving away easy runs and if we chased them down we couldn’t get those runs by batting. So this has been going on for quite some time, now we need to reset and rethink because we have some good tournaments coming up in the next couple of months and hopefully we will give it our best.”
The “reimagining” she talks about again and again is not about one issue, but many.
Perhaps it was India’s middle-order stutter in previous games that prompted Smriti Mandhana to be cautious against Australia and score roughly on the run until she was run out. You need an over par total against Australia but India were 134 for 2 after 18 overs. While Harmanpreet pulled the team out of the slump, the rest of the batters failed to fire.
Is it time to move on from captain Harmanpreet Kaur?•ICC/Getty Images
The shuffling of Jemima Rodriguez and Yastika Bhatia between numbers 3 and 5 reflected a lack of role clarity for both. While Rodriguez has batted at third for almost her entire T20I career and has been pushed out of her position at times, Bhatia has failed to make a mark at either third or fifth in her five-year, 26-game T20I career.“I think we really need to rethink our strategy and our game in T20,” head coach Amol Muzumdar said at a press conference, agreeing with his captain. “We really need to think about what kind of hand we’re going to play.”The only thing India might be looking to find in the WPL is a number 5 or 6 finisher, including Richa Ghosh. Unfortunately, India were without their main all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar for over a year and lost Amanjot Kaur and Kashvi Gautam in the run-up to the World Cup before seeing Shreyanka Patil injured early in the tournament. But apart from the all-rounders, India needs another six-spinner who can share the responsibility with Ghosh. Bharti Phulmali showed something as such a batter during the 2025 WPL, but her batting average and strike rate dropped this year, affecting the faith that the team management was willing to put in her.
India also hardly looked confident in their pace combination as no fast bowler was given more than two runs in a row and none – perhaps as a result – stood out. They did not look threatening with the ball in the powerplay or in the death overs, even in swing-friendly conditions in England. While the likes of Fatima Sana, Marizanne Kapp, Aaliyah Alleyne and Catherine Bryce regularly took wickets, the most wickets handled by an Indian bowler was three (Nandani Sharma).
In Smriti Mandhana, the selectors include a person with confirmed captaincy rank.•Getty Images
When one World Cup cycle ends, it gives teams the opportunity to reflect and prepare for the next. Recently, the Indian men’s team set a cruel precedent by dropping their captain, T20 World Cup winner Suryakumar Yadav, due to form. The selection committee saw a worthy successor in Shreyas Iyer due to his leadership qualities in the IPL even though he has not played a T20I for India in over two years.
Harmanpreet’s age – 37 – and her record as captain in the last two T20 World Cups raises an obvious question: is she the right candidate to lead the team in the next T20 World Cup? If the women’s selectors feel the need for a change in leadership in the T20 squad, this is the ideal time to do so and give the next captain a chance to do a good job, even though Muzumdar wants Harmanpreet to continue in the position.
Thanks to the WPL, the women’s selectors also have a candidate in 29-year-old Smriti Mandhana, who has lifted the trophy twice in four years as RCB captain and has already led India in 18 T20Is and won 11 of them.
This doesn’t mean India doesn’t need Harmanpreet dough. It was thanks to her that India scored 170 against Australia on Sunday. Her presence in the team could not only provide Mandhana with a sounding board, but also give India time to find her replacement as a batter.
In a few months, India will host the Asian Games and the Champions Cup early next year ahead of the Olympics and T20 World Cup in 2028.
The past is carved in stone. Now it is up to breeders to shape the future.
Vishal Dixit is an assistant editor at Cricinfo.