WT20 WC: 'Didn't understand their bowling strategy': Anjum Chopra on India's semi-final defeat vs Australia

Add as a preferred source on Google

Reflecting on India Women's semi-final exit from the Women's T20 World Cup 2023, former captain Anjum Chopra has opined that Harmanpreet Kaur's side bowling tactics against Australia Women was confusing. She has also expressed surprise on the way spinners were used.

WT20 WC: India lose another semi-final

In the first semi-final of the Women's T20 World Cup in Cape Town, Australia piled up 172 runs for the loss of four wickets after batting first. Each of the five bowlers used carried an economy rate in excess of seven. In fact, four bowlers conceded more than eight runs per over.

"We fell short in every department. I think it was good that Australia was batting first – it gave India the chance to chase runs. But I didn't understand their bowling strategy because there was a slow wicket for which they kept protection on the boundary square of the wicket, they asked their spinners to bowl short and outside. But how will they take wickets if every bowler bowls in that manner?" Anjum told Aakash Chopra on JioCinema’s daily show '#AAKASHVANI’.

Anjum points out India's fielding harakiri

Further, the former India Women cricketer also pointed at the misfielding during the high-octane clash. She especially pointed out fingers at Shafali Verma who dropped Beth Mooney in the 10th over. The batter went to score 54 runs off 37 balls.

"Taking this as a bowling strategy, there was no support in terms of fielding - it has to be top-notch. They missed a lot of straight catches, and if we talk about Shafali Verma, she needs a lot of brushing up because young players are expected to field well in these crunch moments and to do it with exuberance. Our bowling did not give up many runs at first, though it is expected that you will conceive runs in the final overs, keeping the reason aside, at the end of the day you have to chase runs to win the game," she said.

Chopra further spoke about how the Indian team can improve going forward. She reckoned that stepping back and analysing the mistake done was more important than moving forward. The 45-year-old also added that India Women will have to learn to play with a big heart and a lot of courage to prevail in the knockout games of ICC major tournaments.

“I think you need to go backwards before going forward. Simply go back to the 2022 50-over world cup and see what happened from there. We knew the 2023 T20 World Cup will be in South Africa. So, what preparations have we made from there? Who were the players for whom we had expectations? It was expected that this was the player who would go with us in T20.

What preparations did you do with them, and how much preparation did that player do to play in this World Cup? And then, coming to this World Cup, what happened to them? Where did it go? Is it just skill-related? Or is it mindset-related? Or should we say that the heart should be a little strong when you enter the big competition because if you are not strong, if you do not have that courage inside you, then no matter how much preparation you do in the end, you will fall short. So before going further, I think it is very important to do an assessment of where we were, where we are, and how we can go forward," Anjum concluded.