Big decisions: Takeaways for India from the five-match T20I series with Australia Women

India women's national cricket team or the Women in Blue at the DY Patil Stadium in December 2022. (Source: Twitter/@JemiRodrigues)

India’s 4-1 loss in the five-match Women's T20I series against Australia in Navi Mumbai and Mumbai may have hardly been the ideal scoreline for the hosts ahead of the India-Australia-West Indies T20I tri-series in South Africa next month that segues into the T20 World Cup in February. But it did bring to the fore several aspects of India’s preparations for the world event that will warrant a closer look from them as they chase their maiden world title.

Rodrigues vs Deol: The new No. 3 conundrum

After finishing as the leading run-scorer at the Asia Cup in September-October, top-order batter Jemimah Rodrigues went through a lean patch at the WBBL in Australia. Playing her first season for the Melbourne Stars, Rodrigues, 22, scored only 44 runs at an average of 8.80 in five innings, her highest score only 15.

Rodrigues (Source: Twitter/@StarsBBL)

Her four outings in the five-T20I Australia series returned scores of 0,4,16 and 8 at No. 3. The fifth T20I saw her being “rested”, or so went the official reasoning from India captain Harmanpreet Kaur at the toss as to why she had been left out of the XI. This, after the team’s newly appointed batting coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar, who oversaw the series as the unofficial interim head coach, brushed aside concerns over Rodrigues’ form on match eve.

"It's absolutely not [a concern]," Kanitkar had said. "I think she's got a lot of ability and has proven that in the past two-three games. I've had so many times where I've had four or five games that didn't go my way. That doesn't mean a player is not good.”

With Harleen Deol slotting in as the like-for-like replacement (the 24-year-old right-hand batter stroked a quickfire 16-ball 24, four fours and a six included), what might Rodrigues’ future look like, then, in India’s scheme of things as the squad for the tri-series and the T20 World Cup is picked in the next few days?

"Harleen is someone who is always ready - be it batting at any spot or just for fielding," Harmanpreet explained after the fifth game. "Last match (in the fourth T20I), she did not get to bat despite being ready from the start but she was not upset, and was (instead) positive. She was like, 'whenever I get the opportunity, I want to go there and execute."

"We all thought that we should give Jemi a break because we know how important she is. Going forward, it is important that we keep her in that frame. Batting line-up is something you cannot fix in T20s. I know Jemi was batting at No. 3 for a long time.

"But I feel if the batting line-up is flexible, that is good and then you have more options to try things. Today, that was the reason we wanted to see how Harleen can bat at No. 3. She was there, and was getting the momentum. Really happy to see her approach with the bat."

Vaidya, Sarvani make a mark

Among non-regulars in the Indian XI, leg spin-bowling allrounder Devika Vaidya's return and left-arm pacer Anjali Sarvani’s debut stood out. In what was only her second T20I series across eight years, Vaidya, 25, scored 80 runs in five innings at an average of 26.66 and strike rate of 109.58, batting at either No. 5 or No. 7.

Vaidya (Source: Twitter/@OfficialDevika)

Her final-ball four in regulation time was integral to India taking the second T20I to a Super-Over finish, in which they triumphed by four runs and registered their only win of the series. With the ball, she returned four wickets – all key cogs in the Australian line-up: Alyssa Healy, Beth Mooney, Ashleigh Gardner and Ellyse Perry – at an economy of nine in five innings.

Railways bowler Sarvani, also 25, too, showed promise. She took the new ball with Renuka Singh and Meghna Singh and bowled at the death, too. After going wicketless in her first two matches, she removed Tahlia McGrath and Perry in the third T20I, and found the last of her three wickets in the series in Mooney in the final T20I.

But for the fourth game, where she gave away 43 runs in her full allotment for no wickets, her economy hovered around eight. Sarvani's noteworthy debut on what were largely batting-friendly surfaces should hold her in good stead as far as making the squads for the T20I tri-series next month and the T20 World Cup is concerned.

Run-leak at the death

India’s end-overs performance with the ball emerged as something of a concerning trend in the series. The hosts’ attack went for 12.26 runs per over in the last eight, inferior to Australia's 9.37 as the visitors crossed 170 in all matches, while the home team made 150 or more in all matches but the last one.

Harmanpreet admitted that a review of personnel available at India’s disposal to operate at the death was imminent as the leader of India’s pace attack, Renuka, an incisive powerplay bowler, too, went for over 10 runs an over in that phase claiming just one wicket.

"We are doing well in the first ten overs and not giving them easy runs. But after the tenth over, suddenly things are changing," Harmanpreet said after the fifth T20I. "We did plan a lot of things, but were not able to execute them. Earlier, the first six overs was the area we wanted to improve as a team. Now we are getting results in the first six.

"We will now analyse who can bowl after ten overs and in the death overs. We discussed it in team meetings, but when you are in a series, you don't get that much time to execute those things."

Search for bowling coach underway

That India didn’t have a bowling coach for the series, or that they went through a major coaching rejig three days ahead of the start of it, would have hardly helped the 4-1 scoreline.

The exit of former head coach Ramesh Powar, who also looked after the bowling department during his tenure, on December 6, and batting coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar’s appointment meant that India’s bowlers were left without a designated backroom staff to work with.

After India’s 21-run defeat in the third T20I, Harmanpreet said, "I know we are missing a bowling coach but our bowlers are taking charge." However, she added, India’s attack showed enterprise in taking the lead as far as strategising plans was concerned. “They (the bowlers) are participative in bowlers' meetings. They have full responsibility and today (it was) all their plans and they were leading the way, I was just supporting them in the middle.”

By the time the series neared its end, Kanitkar, addressing his first press conference on tour, admitted that the recruitment of a bowling coach will help the team heading into the T20 World Cup. He also indicated that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is in the process of roping in a full-time bowling coach after the series against Australia.

“Definitely, it will be helpful (to have a bowling coach) and the BCCI is looking into it. I think we’ll have somebody good coming in hopefully, very soon…” he said.

If, and when, it all comes together for India might be the difference between an empty trophy cabinet or with a historic first silverware in it - a happy start to their new year or some more waiting.