Why No Names Like Dravid, Shastri Or Gambhir? Is BCCI Ignoring Women's Cricket?

India women's team vs Australia [Source: @BCCIWomen/x.com]India women's team vs Australia [Source: @BCCIWomen/x.com]

The Indian women's team has recently faced a narrow defeat against the Australian team in the Women's T20 World Cup 2024. This loss has brought the team on the brink of an early elimination from the tournament. However, this is not the first time or this is not an one-off defeat for the team against Australia. 

If we go down the lane, we will see that India have faced a defeat against Australia in crucial games and have squandered their chances of achieving something significant. The ICC women's T20 World Cup Final in 2020, the Commonwealth Games Final in 2022, the ICC Women's T20 World Cup Semi-final in 2023 and then recent defeat in the ICC women's T20 World Cup 2024 are all examples of this fact. 

So, where is India lacking? Why despite having the richest cricket board behind them and the best infrastructure with them, they are not able to win trophies or the crucial matches?

Where is the Indian team lacking?

In all the instances India have suffered narrow defeats. It has been either a weak start or a spell of play where the opposition has taken the game away from India or a an inability to close of sure wins that has cost them the games. 

A couple of things is noticeable in all the defeats of the Indian women's team -

  • The over reliance on individuals like Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana or Deepti Sharma.
  • The second thing being the failure of the players to hold their nerves. When it comes to abilities and individual brilliance, none of the Indian players are lagging behind the international standard. But when it comes to delivering as a team under pressure , the Indian girls have failed the test.

How the appointment of internationally inexperienced coaching staff is hampering the Women's team?

If we take a look at the last three coaches of Indian men's team, the appointments have been - Ravi Shastri, Rahul Dravid and Gautam Gambhir. These three individuals have played international cricket for years and had the experience of delivering under pressure at the highest level. As a result of these appointments, we have seen the Indian men's team going from strength to strength and becoming one of the biggest forces in international cricket. 

On the other hand, the last three coaches of the Indian women's team have been - WV Raman, Romesh Powar and Amol Muzumdar. Even though these players have been legends of the Indian domestic arena, they have not faced the challenges of international cricket for too long. They might guide the players when it comes to the technicalities and the knitts and gritts of the game, but the guidance of keeping the nerves strong under pressure in big international games is not something one can get from them. 

The Indian players have the ability to be the best at the highest level. Even if we look at individual performances, a few of these cricketers are already among the bests in the world. However, it is the lack of proper guidance to manoeuvre through crunch situations that is keeping the team behind the in the big stages. It is probably time that the BCCI appoint some experienced names in international cricket in the coaching staff of the Indian women's team.