Women's T20 World Cup 2024: India Player Ratings as Harmanpreet and Co. turn in dismal display in Dubai
Team India suffered a terrible start to their 2024 Women's T20 World Cup campaign as they went down to New Zealand by 58 runs at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Friday, October 4. Harmanpreet Kaur and Co. could not get going with either bat or ball as the White Ferns coasted to a comfortable victory.
Even though they are only one game into the tournament, India's semifinal hopes are under serious question. They now need to win their upcoming games against Sri Lanka, Australia and Pakistan, and might even need to hope that some other results go their way to secure certain qualification into the knockouts.
On that note, here are India's player ratings from their 2024 Women's T20 World Cup clash against New Zealand.
IND vs NZ, Women's T20 World Cup 2024: India turn in dismal all-round display
Shafali Verma: 3/10
Shafali played a loose shot early on to chip one back to the bowler. India would've expected more from the explosive opener who was dismissed in a tame fashion.
Smriti Mandhana: 3.5/10
Mandhana plucked a couple of catches, but she was lackluster in the field, not for the first time. She also played a rash shot trying to clear the long-off boundary against an off-spinner in the powerplay, to leave India in early trouble in the chase. The vice-captain of the side should've done much better.
Harmanpreet Kaur: 3/10
Harmanpreet's dubious captaincy came to the fore once again as she shuffled her bowlers around rather randomly. She struck a sweetly timed four through the off-side but fell soon after, trying to hoick an inswinger across the line.
Jemimah Rodrigues: 5/10
Rodrigues was one of India's last hopes in the chase, but she too perished while playing an attacking stroke. She was a rare bright spot on the field.
Richa Ghosh: 2/10
Ghosh struggled for timing out in the middle and couldn't find the boundary even once in 19 balls before being outfoxed by Lea Tahuhu. The keeper also dropped an absolute dolly in the first innings.
Deepti Sharma: 1.5/10
Deepti had a miserable outing in Dubai as she was carted for 45 runs in her four overs, often due to a lack of control over her lines and lengths. To add to her wicketless outing, she hit a full-toss straight to a fielder in the circle - only to be saved by a drop - and walked back soon after while trying to clear the infield.
Pooja Vastrakar: 4/10
Vastrakar bowled a solitary over. She was also bamboozled by an Amelia Kerr googly while batting but the game had already been lost by then.
Arundhati Reddy: 6/10
Arundhati was among the better Indian bowlers on display in Dubai. She was unlucky not to have a wicket early on and finished with an acceptable economy rate of 7.00. The fast bowler conceded only two boundaries.
Shreyanka Patil: 5/10
Shreyanka had a rather uneventful outing, with her three overs going for 25 runs. She also looked all at sea during the second innings.
Asha Sobhana: 7.5/10
Asha was the pick of the Indian bowlers, with her consistency and flight producing a wicket. She went for only 22 runs and was the only one from the Women in Blue to have an economy rate under six.
Renuka Singh Thakur: 7/10
Renuka strangely wasn't given the first over, and the last over of her spell went for a few runs at the death. She was decent otherwise, with her two powerplay overs costing just seven runs and her second spell yielding two scalps. The pacer, however, was woeful on the field as she made amateur errors.