India’s three-match T20I series against England, starting on Thursday in Chelmsford, is less about bragging rights and more about nailing down a balanced side before the Women’s T20 World Cup. Two injuries – a back problem for Amanjot Kaur and knee surgery for Kashvee Gautam – have left noticeable gaps in the all-rounder slots, forcing the selectors to look again at options they thought were already sorted.
“We have both things in our mind, at the same time we are looking for the combination and at the same time we are looking to win also because if you win before the World Cup that always give you a lot of confidence,” Harmanpreet Kaur told reporters on match-eve. “Now it’s only about creating a good atmosphere and giving them a lot of confidence so that they should feel ready for any situation.”
Harmanpreet’s reference to “combination” is code for a lower-middle order that mis-fired in South Africa in February, where India lost 4-1. Amanjot’s power hitting and Kashvee’s seam-bowling were pencilled in as solutions. With both sidelined for at least six months, the think-tank has turned to players who have spent considerable time on the fringes.
Radha Yadav, absent from T20I cricket since last summer’s tour of England, returns offering left-arm spin, sharp fielding and improving late-order batting. Her 2 for 15 and athletic catching at Old Trafford last year were central to India’s 3-2 series win, while a maiden WPL fifty at No. 5 for RCB underlined her value with the bat.
Yastika Bhatia is back too. Knee surgery and Richa Ghosh’s rise pushed her out of the XI, but as a left-hander who can keep wicket she covers two roles. Bharti Fulmali, five T20Is since a 2019 debut, provides a right-hand option in the same middle-order bracket. Off-spinning all-rounder Shreyanka Patil, fresh from a productive WPL, is another candidate.
“Amanjot and Kashvee have been very impressive talent for us, but unfortunately as they’re not available, we do have a lot of combinations in our mind and let’s see what is working for us,” Harmanpreet admitted. Those combinations revolve around who bowls the extra two overs of pace or spin, and who finishes the innings if Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues do not bat deep.
Former India coach WV Raman believes the solution lies in clarity of role rather than wholesale change. “Give the incoming players a fixed brief – whether that is three overs in the powerplay or 12 balls at the death – and judge them on that,” he said on a regional podcast this week. The current set-up has said similar privately, but the next ten days will show whether it is carried out.
“These three matches will give us more clarity going ahead to the T20 World Cup because earlier – as Amanjot was there, Kashvee was there – we knew how things are going to be but now, new players in the side and hopefully we’ll try to give them as much opportunity so that they can be ready for the T20 World Cup,” Harmanpreet added.
Conditions at Chelmsford are traditionally true and quick, a useful rehearsal for the World Cup venues in Bangladesh later in the year. The second and third matches, in Hove and Derby, may call for an extra spinner; Radha, Patil and even Mandhana’s part-time off-breaks come into play there.
“They’ve been very good for us, Amanjot and Kashvee, but unfortunately they are not here, they’re not fit to play the next six, seven months,” the captain went on. “But apart from them we have Radha back in the side – she did really well in the WPL, she contributed with both bat and ball – and Bharti Fulmali is also there. And now Yastika is also back in the side.”
“So I think we have got decent balance in the side and it’s only about giving opportunity to them and take the best out from them. This series will give us a lot of clarity before the World Cup and I think these” – her sentence drifted, but the intention was clear: results matter, yet selection clues matter more.
