Groggy start for India as plans go awry

When an in-form batting order capsizes to provide only 113 runs for seven wickets on a batting paradise, you pretty much know where the match is headed. On Monday (March 12) in Vadodara, after India's rollicking start, Megan Schutt took the pace off the ball and put Smriti Mandhana under the pump by allowing her only two scoring opportunities in a three-over spell she sent down to her just before being taken off the attack, surprisingly. The mighty pressure of dot balls got to the left-hander who went down on one knee for a slog sweep off Ashleigh Gardener but failed to middle it. Meg Lanning took a back-pedalling catch and that started the procession.

Schutt then outsmarted Harmanpreet Kaur with a fast leg-break that the Indian stand-in skipper failed to read, falling for a laboured 29-ball nine just after they had lost a positive-looking Deepti Sharma in the previous over. Promising leg-spinner Amanda-Jade Wellington then laid out a perfect bait for Veda Krishnamurthy - a generously flighted delivery outside her off-stump, inviting the dashing batter to drive, which she did albeit uppishly towards cover. Only, Australia had Beth Mooney stationed exactly for such an opportunity.

In the absence of India's saviour Mithali Raj, these were the three big wickets Australia needed to tighten their grip on the contest. Though in a bit of an anti-climatic finish to the first-half, Pooja Vastrakar and Sushma Verma rode their luck in a 76-run stand but as hard as they tried, the rearguard action only delayed the inevitable. India surrendered with 200 on the board, well below par for the conditions.

Though pleased with the effort of the lower-order duo that ensured they "didn't repeat the mistakes committed in the last few games", Harmanpreet put the blame squarely on the poor batting from the hosts on a helpful Vadodara surface.

"All batsmen tried to go for big shots initially which, I think, wasn't required at the time," Harmanpreet critically analysed after India's eight-wicket drubbing in the three-match series opener. "There was early moisture in the wicket and the plan was to watch out for the first ten overs. In such a situation you can't afford to throw your wickets. We planned on rotating the strike, but that also didn't happen and in games like this rotation of strike is absolutely necessary when you can't find runs initially," she said, before adding, "All batters in our side have the capacity to score 100-plus runs and every wicket is important for the team. If we keep throwing our wickets away, it will become hard for us [going forward]."

Restricted to underwhelming score, neither did the script go as per the plan on the other side of the innings break. India's ploy to bowl short to the Australian openers backfired massively as the visitors inconsiderately sent the fielders on a leather hunt. Recently handed the opening duties, Alyssa Healy blasted six of the very short or very wide deliveries from the pace-bowling duo of Shikha Pandey and Vastrakar away to the fence so nonchalantly.

That allowed Nicole Bolton to assess and adjust to the conditions and settle in by using the off-side loaded seven-two field to squeeze in confidence-building ones and twos at the start of her century knock. She manipulated the field to her advantage - aided by tactically flawed bowling plans of the Indians, played a hand in three half-century stands, and accelerated belatedly to notch up her fourth and a match-winning hundred. All it needed Australia was one ball more than 32 overs to gulp down the target.

Though flawed, Harmanpreet insisted India's bowling was a well-thought-out ploy.

"While batting we were getting runs on the over-pitched balls and not so much on the short balls. So we thought that maybe we could also try the same. But at the time of our bowling, that plan wasn't successful because sometimes we didn't bowl according to our field and sometimes we bowled very short," she confessed. "We'll play to our strengths in the next game and try to cut down on our mistakes today."

Harmanpreet though felt the flop show with the bat did not inspire much confidence in their bowling attack, that went awry with their strategies. "Well, we didn't put enough runs on the board which didn't allow the bowlers to try different things," the 29-year-old said. "They had only one option to try and bowl as tight as possible. But our bowling was also not according to our field. At times your plans don't click. This was an off day for us and we'd try and come back with a better strategy."

India had however received their first blow even before the coin toss when their regular skipper Raj, still feeling weak due to a suspected viral fever, was ruled out for the curtain raiser. The 35-year-old was forced to pack up early on the eve of the game but did turn up with the squad on match day, only to be excluded at the eleventh hour for precautionary reasons. This left India without two of their most experienced hands - Raj and Jhulan Goswami, who is nursing a heel injury sustained in South Africa. Harmanpreet, while acknowledging that the loss was substantial, saw a silver lining in it.

"When you're playing against a good team, it is important to have your two most experienced players in the eleven. Their absence was a big loss for us, but one positive is that the juniors are getting a chance. Like Pooja batted really well today, so it is a good chance for them to show their character," she said.

"Both of them are very talented. Whenever Sush [Sushma Verma] has got a chance with the bat she does contribute for the team. She did well again today and so did Pooja. We've seen her always in domestic [circuit], doing very well for her team. Without their partnership, at that point it seemed like we wouldn't even get to 150," she observed.