The Indian women’s cricket team will face South Africa in their third league match of the ongoing ICC Women’s ODI World Cup 2025 on Thursday (October 9) in Visakhapatnam. Team India have won two matches
played so far, and a win over the South African team will help them rise from third to No. 1 position in the points table once again. In the first couple of matches, India secured big wins over Sri Lanka (by 59 runs) and Pakistan (88 runs), but top-order batters – Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal, Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues – failed to contribute much with the bat.
There were high expectations from Mandhana, who is the world No. 1 ODI batter, in the first two matches, but she could only manage to score 8 and 23 runs, whereas Harmanpreet got out for 21 runs against Sri Lanka and 19 runs against Pakistan.
The below-par show with the bat by the captain and vice-captain of Team India in the first two matches invited them a fair bit of criticism from Indian fans, but former Indian wicketkeeper-batter Sushma Verma is not concerned about Smriti and Harman’s form. Sushma, a JioStar expert for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, has backed the senior duo and other top-order batters as well to do well in the upcoming matches.
“In the recent series (against Australia), all the batters were into runs. So, as a player, you go up and down in a couple of matches, so you are not concerned about that. I am sure that Smriti, Pratika, for that matter, Harleen, or Harman, I don’t think they are so concerned that they are not in form or that there is a big challenge for them,” Sushma said during a Media Day ahead of the India vs South Africa clash.
“I feel when you play in any ICC tournament, you come with a different mindset and understand that it’s okay to have a couple of bad games.”
“So I don’t see any challenge ahead of the Indian top order. They all are in good nick, in good shape. I am looking forward to the contest because the opposition team has the likes of Marizanne Kapp and Ayabonga Khaka, and they are world-class bowlers, and against world-class bowlers, our batters are on a completely different level.”
“So for me, their form is not a concern, and I feel it is the same for the team as well because it happens. In every World Cup, batters go through such phases where they flop in 2-3 matches, but then again, they score runs. It is important that we are winning games. Someone or the other is stepping up and is looking forward to winning,” she added.
Apart from the top-order batters, wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh is also making headlines these days majorly for her keeping but Sushma has backed her as well.
“Richa is an exceptional player, and so, even if there are a few lapses in keeping, that’s completely okay. I am saying as I am myself a wicket-keeper, and again, wicket-keeping is a thankless job. So, I know that two or three dismissals can be missed in one match. So, that’s simply okay according to me, and this is not a concern for the team.”
“If you look at her batting strike rate, you can see that Richa Ghosh is at the top in ODI cricket in the last season. So, I think she covers everything. When she is batting so well, then why are we after a few dismissals that are being missed? She did keep well against Sri Lanka, and after that, in the second match (she had fumbles), that’s completely okay.”
“This happens with every player, and this is not a big concern, I guess. If you are talking about improvement, what improvement should be made? Yes, gradually, it has come,” she added.
