Post 0-3 ODI drubbing in Australia, former India captain Diana Edulji says women’s team must do justice to BCCI’s all-out support to them; feels players should not be allowed to be part of overseas leagues
Australia’s Annabel Sutherland (centre) celebrates India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur’s (right) wicket with teammates during the first ODI in Brisbane recently. Pic/Getty Images
Obviously, this 0-3 ODI result in Australia is disappointing...
It’s absolutely disappointing. I don’t think the coach, captain and players are on the same page. They just don’t seem to be gelling. There is too much chopping and changing of the playing XI all the time. The batting order is not settled. Richa Ghosh is not an opening bat. Why are you ruining her? Let her perform the finishing role. She is more effective there.
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What are the other factors that could be affecting the team?
Unfortunately, a lot of injuries are taking place, which I can’t understand why. Yastika Bhatia is just getting into the team, and now she’s injured again. I know it’s a sport [injuries will happen], but… I can’t understand these injuries.
Diana Edulji. Pic/Shadab Khan
Does this all give you a ‘what’s going on’ kind of a feeling?
Yeah. Either they are not training properly or the fitness levels are zero, and that is showing in their fielding and catching.
The road ahead?
To regain confidence before next year’s World Cup, we should be playing against teams like Zimbabwe etc and not with these tough sides. The Indian team’s confidence level will go down completely in bashings like the latest 0-3.
Also Read: Women's T20 World Cup 2024: Women's cricket in Asia struggles to match Western standards
Does Indian cricket have a choice considering the scheduling has taken place?
I don’t think so because the FTP must be already settled.
But you just wish that playing lower ranked teams was possible?
Yes, because we have to. We are not going into any confidence-boosting. Now you’ve got the West Indies team coming here. I don’t know how this scheduling is done. The BCCI is talking about pay parity. They are doing everything for women’s cricket.
I think our players should not be allowed to play WBBL in Australia and The Hundred in England. They should go into fitness camps instead.
The WBBL is not going to get affected if you don’t send your players. Everybody will come to India to play because of the money [in the WPL in any case]. So, that’s not a worry at all.
Why do you feel so strongly about this?
See the way they perform in these leagues. And when it comes to playing for India, where has that performance gone? They have played in Australia for over one and a half month. The same girls are not performing there.
Why is this happening?
There’s something wrong. Is there no motivation to play for the country in spite of getting such good match fees? They can’t be complaining about anything. All they need to do is get familiar with performance.
It’s perform or perish. You might as well then let the juniors play. As it is, we are losing with seniors.
We may lose a few more with juniors, but at least they will get experience.
In the last game, Smriti Mandhana got 105 out of 215. Six dismissed for single digit scores. Isn’t this odd?
Absolutely. There’s no [positive] body language… You can see it.
It looks as if they are just wandering in the park. Smriti scored a hundred, but she needs to be more consistent. In 10 innings, you should perform well in at least eight. Harman [Harmanpreet Kaur]… there seems to be no confidence in her batting.
So your prescription would be soul searching and get performing?
No, only get performing. How many years do you want to do soul searching?
After every tournament, you are saying the same thing — “we need to learn.” What have you learnt all these years? How many years have you been playing? You are getting everything from BCCI. The least you can do is play well for your country. Be proud to play for your country just like you are proud of playing for your WPL teams and your franchises.
More from Diana Edulji
. “Please remember you are playing for India.”
. “We must have tough taskmasters. Otherwise, it looks as if the BCCI is running women’s cricket just for the sake of it.”
. “Work on your running between wickets. Have proper thinking, proper thought process.”
. “WPL boundaries should be the same [bigger] boundaries which you have for the other tournaments. Here [in WPL], you are clearing the ropes for fours and sixes easily, but getting caught in bigger tournaments.”
. “Coaches/support staff have to be more accountable. Support staff cannot be ad hoc people coming from the NCA. We need permanent, professional people to be with the team right through. They must be made accountable for performances.”
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