3 worrying takeaways from 2022 for the Indian Women's team

While many fans believe that 2022 has been the worst year in Indian Men's cricket, the same may not be true when it comes to the Women in Blue.

Although India bowed out of the 2022 Women's World Cup before the semifinals, they still made the year memorable with some incredible achievements.

India won the Silver Medal in Women's cricket at the Commonwealth Games 2022, narrowly missing out on the ultimate prize after a close loss to champions Australia.

They also won the Women's Asia Cup, proving once again why they are a dominant force on the continent.

In the ODIs, Harmanpreet Kaur and co. whitewashed England 3-0 in their own backyard, which is quite a historic achievement.

Despite all these achievements, some results like the 1-4 series loss to Australia of late have exposed some weaknesses of the Indian Women's team that they need to work on as soon as possible.

On that note, let's take a look at three such areas of improvement:

#3 Overdependence on star players

Before:
Openers gave India a start
Middle order failed

Today:
Openers just started giving a start before the pair was snuffed out
Middle order disappoints yet again

Like India Men, India Women also identifying problems but not fixing them

#ENGvIND

Many would observe that star players like Shafali Verma, Smirti Mandhana, and Harmanpreet Kaur have had a lion's share of runs in most of India's wins.

Apart from perhaps Renuka Singh Thakur with the new ball, they haven't been able to unearth a new star that would take the baton from the present ones.

If the Women in Blue are to win the ICC T20 World Cup 2023 in South Africa, they will need to find new match-winners among themselves, and other players will need to step up, especially in crunch situations.

#2 Middle-order crumbling under pressure

Lost in the final in ODI WC final.
Lost in the final in T20 WC final.
Lost in the final in Commonwealth Games.

Feel for this Indian Women's team. https://t.co/eRDGKMbEDg

Although the Indian Women's cricket team won the Silver Medal in Birmingham, deep down each one of them knew that they missed out on a golden opportunity by not winning the Gold medal.

They couldn't score the runs required just over seven an over at the death and that's one area they will need to work on urgently.

Richa Ghosh has shown flashes of brilliance, but they just haven't been able to string together consistent performances from the lower order.

It was observed in the recent T20Is against Australia that, apart from the game that India won, their batting faltered in almost every other inning once the top four were back in the hut.

Performing in crunch situations is something that can't be coached, and the Women in Blue will certainly need to show more character.

#1 Lack of wicket-taking options

India out form odi world cup 😢 Last world cup for our legend Mithali & Jhulan. Mithali, Smriti, Shafali scored 50+ and Harman 48 complete team performance to post 274 . Deepti nearly pulled it of in last over but no ball sucks 😢

Mithali played last intl for India 💔 https://t.co/gQGbJv8vuH

Arguably the biggest problem that's hurting Harmanpreet and co. at the moment is the lack of genuine wicket-takers.

Renuka Singh became the spearhead of the pace attack after Jhulan Goswami's retirement. However, she hasn't received enough support from the other end.

There's a feeling that India's pacers and spinners are effective only when there's a bit of help for them in the pitch.

They looked pretty helpless in the World Cup and also at times in the series against Australia, and they will need to work on the issue immediately.

The likes of Anjali Sarvani and Devika Vaidya will also need to come to the party and shoulder the responsibility of providing regular breakthroughs.

Whether the Women in Blue will win the upcoming T20 World Cup will depend a lot on the extent to which they work on the aforementioned issues.