Road to World T20: SA series rout a wake-up call for Harmanpreet & Co

The euphoria over India’s first-ever ICC Women’s World Cup win (50 overs) being a distant memory now, it’s time for Harmanpreet Kaur & Co to take a fresh guard for a tilt at the upcoming T20 World Cup in June-July in England. The current form of the Women in Blue, however, raises an element of concern as South Africa snubbed them 4-1 in a five-match T20 series at home which ended on Monday, 28 April.

The final T20 in Benoni saw skipper Laura Wolvdaart leading by example, yet again, with a power packed 92 off just 56 balls as India fell short in the chase by 23 runs. It was an insipid performance by the Indian team overall as they looked out of sorts in this format—failing to exploit the powerplay while their bowling unit failed to make early breakthroughs in the earlier matches. The fielding looked sluggish in parts and a disappointed Harmanpreet later admitted it was a kind of wake-up call and they needed to ‘regroup’ soon.

The best showing by Indian women in the T20 World Cup so far had been a runners up finish in the 2020 edition Down Under, while the previous edition in 2024 in the UAE saw them exiting from the group stages. The shortest format, if truth be told, is still a work in progress for the Indian team though a 2-1 series win in Australia last February turned out to be their only silver lining in a tour Down Under. 

In a multi-format tour, the returns were dismal as India suffered a 3-0 sweep in the ODI series (all heavy losses) while Australia beat them by 10 wickets in a one-off Test—with the visitors failing to reach 200 in either innings.  The focus, for now, will be to sharpen their game for the T20 showpiece and the pressure of expectations will be huge after their historic triumph in the ODI World Cup at home.

’’We need to sit together as a group and think how to move forward. Disappointing for us, lots of positives and learnings for us,’’ Harmanpreet said at the post-match presentation. A look at the team composition in the last series reveals that the Women in Blue have not been able to create a horses-for-courses policy to excel in this format—overtly relying on the ODI stalwarts like their captain, deputy Smriti Mandhana (rested for last two matches as South Africa had already taken a 3-0 lead), Jemimah Rodrigues as well as Deepti Sharma, Player of the Tournament in ODI World Cup.

‘’We did well in patches today. In batting, the powerplay was something which cost us as we didn’t get too many runs and lost two wickets. It’s disappointing, we need to keep working hard,’’ remarked Harmanpreet.

The team is now scheduled to tour England for a three-match T20I series starting in end-May and will serve as their final preparation for the 2026 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. A tough challenge hence awaits—and it’s time that the likes of Shafali Varma and Richa Ghosh, whose explosive style suits the format which is pushing the boundaries, to take up more responsibility.