It's not often that a selection call or an omission decision sums up the state of the entire team and how it is run. Imagine, a player registering her career-best figures in a format, is nowhere to be seen in the team's squads for the next assignment and so much so that the fans and avid followers of the game could predict that it was very much possible? In a year where the Indian women's cricket team failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup, lost the Asia Cup final and this one decision stands out? Probably it was a summation of everything which tells you that all's not good in the hood. It brought out severe reactions from fans, especially since the decision came after the Women in Blue were hammered by Australia in a three-match ODI series.
It was a year which ended India's home series win drought in T20I that lasted as many as five years, but it began with a series loss to Australia in the very same format. Very poetic, no? More than being symbolic of anything, it probably shows the Indian team a mirror that they are good enough for the likes of the West Indies, Pakistan and maybe Sri Lanka too but still need to get better to be able to challenge the Aussies, the benchmark-setters, especially in crunch situations and big games.
You can guess by now, it was a mixed-bag of a year for the Indian women's team. It was a year where Jemimah Rodrigues established herself as the all-format glue between the openers and the middle order, where the likes of Titas Sadhu, Priya Mishra, Raghvi Bist and Minnu Mani took their first steps in white-ball cricket but inconsistencies in selection and the lack of clarity still remained the talking points. It was not just Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, who was the top wicket-taker in the ODI series against New Zealand wasn't picked for the West Indies series, Richa Ghosh was suddenly opening the innings and the tactics were all over the place.
There were a couple of ODI series wins at home, a T20I series win against Bangladesh, rather comprehensively and the year has ended on a good note with a T20I series victory against the West Indies. However, with the ODI World Cup scheduled to take place next year, the focus will slightly be more on the ODIs and hence the surprise as to why Reddy was missing from the squad. But since there were wins at home and defeat only against Australia, that too away, the team management will take heart from the performance but will be aware that there is work to be done.
There has been a constant attempt to look at the future generation and test the waters but the consistency in selection and a little accountability will be the need of the hour, especially with the questions being raised evidently on the whole process. The form in ODIs, especially at home suggests that the team is treading in the right direction towards the World Cup. Still there are a lot of ifs and buts...
