Indian Women’s Cricket Team: What a wonderful deception that was! That happy night of May 2025 still floats before our eyes. Our girls kissed the One Day World Cup trophy for the first time in the history of cricket. That day every Indian’s chest swelled with pride. But after just one year, that luxurious palace of hopes has collapsed like a house of cards.
Team India’s exit from the historic ground of Lord’s and from the group stage of the ICC Women’s T-20 World Cup in June 2026 is not just a defeat, it is a blatant murder of the trust of crores of fans. The crushing defeat of 6 wickets in the decisive match against Australia has given such a deep wound on the heart, the pain of which will not leave you for a long time.
The glitter of the safes versus the silence of the field
As a true cricket fan, what is heart-wrenching is the VIP treatment these players receive and the silence they receive in return. There was a time when women cricketers used to complain every day about the facilities they got compared to men. But today times have changed, today Indian women cricketers have the glamor of the Women’s Premier League (WPL), probably the most expensive coaching staff in the world and the richest board in the world like BCCI which fulfills their every wish. The question is, when the coffers are so full, why is the result on the field always the same old ‘Dhaak Ke Teen Paat’?
Re-telecast of old script of 2024
Well, I know that the common cricket fan of the country will hardly get the answer to this question. But still, every cricket fan of the country would definitely want to ask this direct question to the management of the Indian women’s cricket team today. The only question is that when we were shamefully eliminated from the T20 World Cup in the year 2024 at the Sharjah ground of UAE, big promises were made. But what was shown on Lord’s in 2026 was a re-telecast of the same flop script.
What preparations were made for two years and who is responsible for it? Is the job of the head coach and selectors just to enjoy the VVIP protocol on big tours? When the wounds of the 2024 T20 World Cup defeat were bandaged by the 2025 One-Day World Cup trophy, but when the format is different, the preparation should also have been different. In such a situation, who will be responsible for this fate that happens in 2026?
‘Fear of defeat’ vs carefree kangaroo?
In my opinion, the biggest difference between India and Australia at Lord’s on Sunday evening was the ‘fear of defeat’. The Kangaroo team came on the field without any fear, whereas our team was playing only under the pressure that we might lose. Australia adopted the strategy of all-out attack, while the Indian team became completely defensive in the pursuit of ‘safety-first’. On a pitch which was rated for 180-190 runs, even after finishing the powerplay without losing any wicket, our car kept moving at the speed of a tortoise. While Smriti Mandhana forgot to increase the run rate while settling at the crease, Jemimah Rodrigues also remained hesitant in playing big shots in the initial overs.
The bankrupt thinking of the management and coaching staff was exposed when Jemimah Rodrigues was struggling in the 17th over. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur gave the team some scores worth fighting for in the last overs but even there they did not get any support from the other end. Even while bowling, Sri-Charani bowled a no-ball in a crunch situation, which can be called no less than suicide in a format like T20. When the partnership between Perry and Gardner was flourishing against Australia, fear was clearly visible on the faces of our players.
Ladd catches and childish misfielding
Former cricketers commenting during the match also admitted that the Indian team was mentally weak in preparation against Australia. In the one-on-one match, along with our bowling, our fielding was also like a nightmare. In the match against South Africa, our trusted fielder like Radha Yadav took two such laddu catches from Marizanne Cap which would make even a street child feel shy. Apart from this, if senior players like Kranti Gaur also start misfielding on the field, then you can forget the dream of winning the trophy.
Now no one will hear the complaint that there was less time for preparation, because the team was sweating in England since the third week of May. The deficiency was not in the weather of England, but in the ‘killer instinct’ of our players. Our mistakes in the World Cup were no coincidence, they were a clear display of our mental block. We patted ourselves on the back by defeating Pakistan, Netherlands and Bangladesh, but as soon as dangerous teams like Australia and South Africa emerged, our strategies fell apart.
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Time to take a lesson from the men’s team?
We cannot expect new and magical results by repeating the same mistakes every time. Indian women’s cricket will now have to come out of that rotten pattern where players are brought into the team only on the basis of ‘old reputation’ and influence of ‘big names’. Has Smriti Mandhana ever given such performance in big matches that would keep her in the captaincy race? We have to remember the year 2007, when the big names of the men’s cricket team were removed and the command was handed over to a young and fearless leader like Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Today, women’s cricket also needs exactly the same ‘Dhoni moment’ and a complete strategic reset. After the 2024 T20 World Cup, first Hardik was given the command of the Indian team but then Suryakumar Yadav was made the captain. India winning the World Cup for the third time in 2026 under the captaincy of Surya was the reward for taking the right decision at the right time.
New blood or unfulfilled dream?
Overall, it can be said that perhaps the time has come when tough decisions will have to be taken without any relaxation in women’s cricket also. We have to bet on those young and fearless faces who know how not to disintegrate under pressure, but to shine and fight back. This entire T-20 format will have to be played with a new, aggressive and modern mindset instead of defensive thinking. Unless we learn from this debacle and add that new, hungry and aggressive blood into our veins, that victory of 2025 will be just a fluke, and this T20 World Cup trophy will remain an incomplete and prickly dream forever.
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