IND vs BAN: Why Harmanpreet-led India will be eager to put white-ball tour behind

The recently-concluded tour of Bangladesh is one the India women’s cricket team will be eager to put behind. Especially skipper Harmanpreet Kaur.

The Women in Blue returned to action after months. They toured Bangladesh for three T20Is and as many ODIs in their first assignment since the T20 World Cup in South Africa where they reached the semi-finals before suffering a narrow loss against eventual winners Australia. Between the World Cup and this tour, the inaugural Women’s Premier League (WPL) was the only event that kept the Indian cricketers busy.

On paper, the limited-overs tour to the neighbouring country was a success for the Indians, winning the T20Is 2-1 and sharing the honours in the ODIs 1-1. Team India would seal the T20I series with back-to-back wins starting with a commanding seven-wicket victory in the tour opener. A victory that gave indication of a side on top of its game and one that would live up to its favourites billing and dominate the Bangladeshis in their own backyard.

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Things, however, began to go downhill for the Women in Blue from thereon; if you remove the first T20I from the equation, India and Bangladesh share the honours by winning two games each across the white-ball formats.

Having made rapid strides in men’s cricket, Bangladesh have shown improvement in the women’s game as well, with their win-loss ratio in ODIs and T20Is in the last three years standing at 0.666 and 0.800 respectively.

However, given the gulf between the two sides, both in terms of their positions on the ICC women’s ODI and T20I rankings as well as India’s superior numbers in the women’s game compared to Bangladesh, Harmanpreet and Co were expected to come out on top in both assignments.

So where exactly did things go wrong for Team India, a side that can stake claim to being the most-improved outfit in the women’s game in recent years and has given tough competition to powerhouses Australia and England.

Batting woes let India down

Though they ended up chasing 115 rather comfortably in the first T20I, winning by seven wickets with nearly four overs to spare thanks to Harmanpreet’s unbeaten 54 and opener Smriti Mandhana’s 38, India did show signs of the batting troubles that would go on to haunt them for the remainder of the tour, with opener Shafali Verma getting dismissed for a duck off the third delivery of the innings.

Team India came up with one of their worst batting performances in recent years in the following game, where they failed to cross the 100-mark after batting out their full quota of 20 overs, finishing at 95/8. The Women in Blue, though ended up having a narrow escape as the Bangladesh would dish out an even more sorry performance by inexplicably losing their last five wickets for just one run to go from 86/5 to 87 all out.

The Women in Blue hardly were any better in their next two outings, getting restricted to 102/9 in the third T20I and bowled out for 113 in the first ODI, and deservedly ending up on the losing side on both occasions with Bangladesh registering their first-ever ODI win against India in the process.

Jemimah Rodrigues (86) and Harmanpreet’s (52) fifties helped them post a 200-plus total in the next game and record a 108-run series-leveling win, the Women in Blue managed to throw the game away from a winning position to get bowled out for 225 — level with what Bangladesh had posted after being invited to bat — resulting in the match and the series getting tied.

There were positives in the Indian batting performances, especially with Jemimah Rodrigues scoring 129 runs at an average of 64.5 that too after shifting the middle order in the one-dayers from the No 3 position, where the team leadership instead accommodated. A similar case could be made for Harleen Deol, who scored a career-best 77 in the third ODI that, together with Mandhana’s 59 rescued India from an early wobble.

The biggest miss, however, was opener Shafali Verma who looked completely out of touch — collecting just 34 runs in four appearances in the tour with her strike rate in the T20Is falling under 100, which certainly doesn’t sound good for Team India heading into the Asian Games in September-October. And India did appear to miss wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh’s fiery batting, with Yastika Bhatia collecting 67 runs after playing all six games at an average a little over 10.

The batting woes, though, were nullified by the bowling department, especially the spinners, who went a long way in ensuring that the visitors remained ahead and managed to keep the Bangladeshis in check.

Harmanpreet’s antics put shadow over tour

The batting problems were a key takeaway. However, that is certainly not what India’s 2023 tour of Bangladesh will be remembered for, not after skipper Harmanpreet’s behaviour in the third ODI that has since led to a two-match ban along with hefty fines from the ICC.

During the tense chase in the third ODI, left-arm spinner Nahida Akter successfully appealed for leg-before against Harmanpreet to which the umpire raised his finger. Harmanpreet is knowing for wearing her heart on her sleeve, but her subsequent behaviour will have baffled even her most die-hard of fans.

Harmanpreet would go on to hit the stumps with her bat on her way back to the pavilion, gesture towards the crowd present at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium, describe the umpiring as “pathetic” in a public comment during the post-match presentation ceremony and even taunt opposition skipper Sultana, asking her to bring the umpires to pose alongside the trophy in a team photo.

Needless to say, her behaviour did not go down well with many on both sides of the border, with legends of the Indian men’s and women’s cricket team slamming Harmanpreet for her antics.

“Harmanpreet’s behaviour against the Bangladesh women’s team was pathetic. She is not bigger than the game,” said 1983 World Cup-winner Madan Lal on Twitter.

“It was deplorable to see Harmanpreet call the umpires to pose with the Bangladesh team, suggesting that they were part of the team and playing for them. I am aware that Harman is hot-tempered, and maybe her ugly conduct was because she wasn’t able to score runs. But she crossed the limit that day as she continued to protest during the presentation ceremony,” said former India women’s captain Diana Edulji.

Both Harmanpreet and her team will be hoping to put the tour behind and start on a new note when they travel to Hangzhou China for the Asian Games two months from now. Maybe Harmanpreet might also want to put her best behaviour forward during that tournament, and maybe even bury the hatchet with Sultana and her side should India cross paths with Bangladesh during that tournament.