New Delhi [India], November 1 : Harmanpreet Kaur-led Team India is all set to play country's third-ever ICC Women's World Cup clash after eight years, with the two-time runners-up witnessing major improvements across some aspects of their game over these last few years.
The cricketing world will finally get to witness a brand new world champion of women's ODI cricket, when Team India takes on South Africa, the latter being the first-time finalists at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Sunday. Team India will be having some fond memories at this venue in their mind, as a gem of a knock from Jemimah Rodrigues and another big match step-up from skipper Harmanpreet Kaur helped India chase down 339 runs against Australia, the best-ever run-chase in knockout matches across men's and women's ODI World Cups.
Here, we dive into some aspects across which India has witnessed a powerful wind of change:
*Mandhana-Pratika provide stability at the top
The Smriti Mandhana-Pratika Rawal pair has been nothing short of a revolution at the top for Women in Blue during this tournament. Mandhana has been the second-highest run-getter this tournament, striking her 389 runs in eight innings well at an above 102 strike rate and an average of 55.57, including a century and two fifties. She has the most runs by a women's batter in ODIs in a calendar year with 1,317 runs in 22 matches at an average of 62.71, strike rate of over 111, five centuries and fifties each.
Rawal has also been the fourth-highest run-getter with 308 runs in six innings at an average of 51.33, with her strike rate of 77.77, providing Smriti the stability and calm to unleash her chaos. She has a century and fifty each.
The Indian opening pair has scored the most runs (722), next to South Africa's (682), which has primarily been a one-woman show by skipper Laura Wolvaardt. Their batting average is the second-best in the tournament, at 51.57, trailing only Australia's 58.81.
This average is miles better than 35.13 put by Smriti and Punam Raut during the 2017 edition, when India previously reached finals and 35.78 during the 2022 edition.
This rise is also witnessed against Australia, England, South Africa, New Zealand, with an average of 57.40, as compared to 36.05 in the 2017 edition and 27.8 in the 2022 edition.
Also, the strike rate by Indian top two this tournament is 89.57, the third-highest next to South Africa (96.05) and Australia (116.57).
The strike rate by Indian openers for this edition is much higher than the 2017 edition, 75.58 and the 2022 edition, 80.80.
The Indian openers have not shied from displaying their fearless SENA nations either in this tournament, with a strike rate of 97.36, which outclasses 81.03 in the 2017 edition and 74.34 in the 2022 edition.
*The marked intent of the middle-order gives Team India an edge
For years, the women's team relied on their top-order batters to deliver in ODIs, often fumbling match-winning situations and turning them into embarrassing losses.
India's middle-order has often bailed them out from difficult situations this time around. India's four-to-seven batters have averaged 26.73 in this tournament, the third-highest and not much behind Australia (39.50) and NZ (38.42).
This is not better than 2022's batting average of 28.16 and 30.09, but the improvement is the high-risk game India has gone for. As compared to strike rate of 76.93 in 2022 and 84.71 in 2017, India's strike rate amongst the middle-order batters has gone up to a massive 92.20, second-highest amongst all teams this tournament below Australia (102.44).
The Indian middle-order no longer puts down their weapons when the SENA threat looks them in the eyes. This tournament, they have averaged 29.53 at a strike rate of 98-plus against them, despite three big losses to South Africa, Australia and England. The 'panic button' does not seem to exist anymore.
This is much higher than the average of 28.66 and a strike rate of 75.44 in the 2022 WC, while it is outclassed by the batch of 2017, who scored their runs against SENA at a strike rate of above 106 and an average of 33.33.
This marked improvement in intent has given India an advantage, which was most notable during the semifinals. After the 167-run stand between Jemimah Rodrigues and skipper Harmanpreet broke, the quickfire cameos by Richa Ghosh (26 in 16 balls), Deepti Sharma (24 in 17 balls) and Amanjot Kaur (15* in eight balls), totalling to 65 runs in 41 balls, made up for the massive loss of Harman's scalp and Jemi being the anchor gave them a platform to produce some fireworks.
Be it Deepti, Amanjot's rescue act during Sri Lanka that lifted India from 124/6 to 269/8 in the campaign opener, Richa's one-man show of 94 taking India from 102/6 to 251 against South Africa, there have been some great acts of defiance put up by India's middle-order.
*A powerful spin attack
Deepti Sharma (17 wickets in eight matches at an average of 24.11 and a four-wicket haul) is the joint-leading wicket-taker in the tournament. Amongst spinners of all teams, the Indian spinners have the highest wickets (43 scalps at an average of 28.20, with an economy rate of 5.45).
The young spinner Shree Charani has been a great find for India, having taken 13 wickets in eight matches at an average of 26.07, with best figures of 3/41 and economy rate of 4.91.
Sneh Rana (7 wickets), Radha Yadav (4) and Pratika (2 wickets) have also delivered some contributions with their bowling.
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