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India’s legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar wants women cricket team head coach Amol Muzumdar to advice Harmanpreet Kaur’s brigade to play smart cricket. While giving his opinion about how playing in the night is a disadvantage for the team bowling second, Gavaskar said that while chasing players should not get ambitious and go on about big-hitting as they may end up throwing the game away.
“India found the wet ball tough to bowl with in the ongoing Women’s World Cup and lost two games where they put up a big total, which they would have won if they had been played during the day. So, the toss made a difference. They still have a couple of games to play and qualify for the semis,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
“If they do get there, then the coach must tell them to play smart cricket and not throw their wickets and the match away by going for the glory shots, whether batting first or chasing. Not too many Indian girls, apart from skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana, are capable of smashing the sixes, so the others could be well advised to be less ambitious and not throw the game away looking for sixes and getting caught well inside the boundary. Otherwise, like it happened with the men’s team, which at least got to the final, the fans will be heartbroken by another cup going somewhere else.”
India have lost three matches in a row. First, they lost to South Africa from a winning position as Nadine de Klerk wreaked havoc with her unbeaten 54-ball 84. Against Australia, India failed to defend a total of 330 as skipper Alyssa Healy took the game away from them with a 107-ball 142. In the third ODI, India were cruising towards victory but Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma played reckless shots to get out. India lost the game by just four runs.
Why Gavaskar wants more day games in World Cup?
Gavaskar wants more day games instead of day-night games. He feels that the decisions to have day-night games is hugely because of broadcasters who want viewership. But, it makes toss a deciding factor in the game if there is heavy drew as bowlers feel handicapped bowling a slipper wet ball.
“The broadcasters have a huge role to play, with the viewership running up to millions. It is because of the huge amounts they buy the rights for that they have to try and recoup their investment, even if they don’t make much money out of it. That said, the cricket must never suffer, and so the spin of the coin mustn’t decide the game. Suppose there is going to be heavy dew. In that case, it is clear that unless the team batting first puts up a humongous total on the board, it will not be able to defend it, with the bowlers handicapped by having to bowl with a ball made wet and slippery by the dew. So, the authorities can make the effort to have day games instead of day-night games whenever possible,’ Gavaskar opined.
Must-win games ahead for India
India will now face Sophie Devine’s New Zealand in their must-win game on October 23 at DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai. Their last league clash is at the same venue against Bangladesh on October 26. Currently, they are fourth on the points table on the basis of better net run rate (NRR) than New Zealand and Sri Lanka.
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