India’s first fixture of this T20 World Cup – Pakistan at Newlands on Sunday – suddenly feels a touch lighter for Harmanpreet Kaur. The reason is simple: Richa Ghosh has finally had a hit that looked, well, like Richa Ghosh.
Key facts first. Ghosh managed only 85 runs in five games on the South Africa tour in April. In the three-match warm-up series against England last week she scraped together 18 runs. Then came Wednesday’s official warm-up: 68 from 36 balls, strike-rate 188, five runs short of pinching the contest. No-one else in the Indian top seven reached 20.
“We were waiting for Richa to get that confidence back,” Harmanpreet said on Saturday afternoon. “She’s a key player, a game-changer for us, and we are all very happy that now she’s back in form and confident again. She’s looking really well after that game, even in the nets. One good innings always gives you a lot of confidence, and we have seen that the moment she got those runs she looks like a completely different player in the nets… . I think that her rough phase is gone.”
For Harmanpreet, the timing couldn’t be neater. India have been in England and Ireland for the best part of six weeks, losing more than they would like but, she argues, learning plenty.
“You can’t just go with a fixed plan; you have to be very flexible with a lot of things, I think that is the key point we have learned so far and hopefully will use in this major tournament,” she said. “I personally feel that when things are always going well, sometimes you don’t know which areas you need to improve in as a team, but when you lose, you learn a lot. That’s what the last one-and-half-months has shown, lots of things, lots of scope for improvement.”
The captain added that every player in India’s 15 is fit – a rare luxury – and hinted the XI is “more or less sorted”. She didn’t quite spell it out, but it sounds as though Ghosh will bat at No.4, freeing up the middle for the all-rounders.
Pakistan, meanwhile, had a slightly more anxious training session. Fast-bowling skipper Fatima Sana copped a firm drive on the left knee from Ayesha Zafar while bowling in the nets. A few minutes’ treatment followed; afterwards she walked gingerly but insisted she would be fine.
“I think it is good now,” Fatima said. “We all are ready and we know what the conditions are because we are here since almost two weeks because we played the series against Ireland as well in Ireland. We just need to execute better plans and we need to be more calm.”
Form lines are mixed. Pakistan lost both completed matches of the tri-series in Dublin last month and were beaten 2-1 in their T20s against Ireland last year. They did pinch a game off South Africa in February but still dropped that series 2-1. India, for their part, have won only two of their last eight T20Is. Put bluntly, both sides arrive a little scuffed, which may make for a nervy opener.
A quick reminder for casual watchers: Newlands can reward disciplined seam early on, yet spinners often take charge once the surface dries. India’s three-pronged slow-bowling group – Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav and the leg-spinner Devika Vaidya – will fancy that. Pakistan lean on Nashra Sandhu’s left-arm spin and the darting off-breaks of Nida Dar. If it does turn, dot-ball pressure could dictate who keeps their nerve.
One broader point, floating around the practice pitches: both nations are desperate for a major-event lift. India haven’t won an ICC title since the 2011 men’s ODI; Pakistan’s women have never been beyond a World Cup group stage. Harmanpreet didn’t shy away from the weight of expectation.
“I won’t deny that there’s no pressure,” she admitted, before adding a gentle shrug. “It’s India v Pakistan. Pressure is always there. It’s about how we enjoy it.”
Fatima’s response carried a similar mix of honesty and optimism. “We just need to execute better plans and we need to be more calm,” she repeated, almost to herself, before limping away to an ice-pack and, one assumes, a restless night’s sleep.
So, Sunday. Newlands. Early afternoon start. If Ghosh really has “looked like a completely different player”, and if Fatima’s knee stays quiet, we might get a match that tells us a good deal about two sides trying to time their rise just right.
