Seeking pieces of T20I conundrum

With an eye on the T20 World Cup later this year the Indian womens cricket team will be vying for allround improvement against sixtime world champions Australia when the two sides clash in a threematch INDW vs AUSW T20I series starting on FridayFor the Harmanpreet Kaurled Indian side plenty will be at stake after a 03 hammering against Australia in the recentlyconcluded ODI series having earlier lost a threematch T20I series to EnglandThe historic wins in the oneoff Test each against England and Australia notwithstanding Harmanpreets side has a lot of ground to cover in whiteball cricket to improve its dismal record against AustraliaIf their horrendous fielding in the second ODI cost India the game by a mere three runs the batters cut a sorry figure on a perfect deck to be bowled out for 148 after Australia piled up a record 3388 in the third ODIIndia lost the opening ODI by six wickets since none of the bowlers could impose themselves on a long Australian batting orderThe hosts dropped a total of eight catches in the last two matches and erred quite a bit in their DRS calling too Indias batting also did not inspire much confidence even though they were playing in their own backyardThe batters lacked initiative to attack their powergame left much to be desired and a collective plan was never seen when it came to taking down the oppositions bowlingHarmanpreets form continued to be a concern with India skipper enduring a forgettable runAlso ReadIndiarsquos lsquoAussomersquo triumphHarmanpreet could only manage 17 runs in three ODIs against Australia The poor run was reflection of her woeful run of form as she has six singledigit scores across formats in her last nine outings and none of them is in excess of fiftyJemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh were Indias stars in the ODIs but there has been lack of big scores from the top halfSmriti Mandhana has only one fifty to show in this home season and has failed to convert starts on a consistent basisIt remains to be seen if India will pair Yastika Bhatia with Mandhana at the top in the INDW vs AUSW T20I series as they did in the ODIs or with Shafali Verma who scored 52 at the start of the season against EnglandIn complete contrast two of Australias batters Phoebe Litchfield and Tahlia McGrath have struck three consecutive fifties each across two formatsIndias new ball pair of Renuka Singh Thakur and Pooja Vastrakar also could not find much purchase off the wickets or conditions at the Wankhede Stadium but playing on fresher decks at the DY Patil Stadium under lights will give them a chance to get the ball talking againFor Australia this tour has witnessed the ascension of the young Litchfield who flayed India with the bat in the ODIs striking two fifties and a ton to establish herself as one to watch out forAustralia who have won each of the last three T20I World Cups have looked to imbibe their learnings from this India tour which is serving their dominant bunch of players a perfect opportunity for the next global competitions in the subcontinentBangladesh will host the T20 World Cup in SeptemberOctober this year and India will organise the next 50overs World Cup in 2025Alyssa Healys side has made its share of mistakes but Australia also know how to turn the tables around with their sharp fielding which was on display in the ODIs even though they dropped a fewAllrounder Grace Harris will come into the Australian squad which aims to repeat its performance of the T20I series in 2022 The team beat India 41 in a fivematch seriesIn fact that tied game here at the DY Patil Stadium separates two long phases of defeats for India iquest five and four matches lost in a row respectively iquest against Australia in T20IsFor that matter India have only six wins to show from 31 matches while Australia have won 23 and one game tied a stat which makes it clear that Harmanpreets side has its task cut out yet againWith agency inputs