How far behind the Indian women’s team have fallen can be gauged from the fact that the last time they faced South Africa, in 2019 at home, they clinched the ODI series 3-1 and won all three T20I games. 

The shoe, it seems, is now on the other foot. Having lost the ODI series 1-4 and in danger of being whitewashed in T20Is, the Indian team’s planning is in disarray. After being runners-up at the T20I World Cup last year, India were expected to build on the gains. But the lack of cricket for a year during the pandemic, has hit them hard.