Mithali Raj opens up on India’s T20 World Cup 2024 campaign

Mithali Raj recently expressed strong views on India’s disappointing performance at the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup, where the team failed to make it past the group stage. She criticized the team for its lack of preparation, citing issues like vague batting roles, poor fielding, and an overall failure to adapt to slower pitches. Raj emphasized the need for a leadership change, suggesting it’s time to bring in younger talents like Smriti Mandhana or Jemimah Rodrigues as future captains. She also highlighted concerns over the team’s fitness levels and their tendency to underperform against stronger teams, calling for more strategic planning to prepare for future tournaments, including the 2025 ODI World Cup​

Speaking to PTI from Dubai, Mithali said the team’s downfall was a result of not getting used to the familiar conditions in the UAE quick enough, lack of role clarity in the batting department, untested bench strength and below-par fielding standards.

Excerpts from the interview:

Q. How would you assess India’s performance in the tournament?

A. If we talk about the Australia game, it was a match to win. I thought at some point we had a chance but it seemed like we are following the same old template against Australia. Taking the match deep but falling short eventually. It’s not working, the middle overs have always been the problem area for the team we were slow in the middle overs. We cannot always leave 11-12 runs per over to get in the last 5. We will not always get true pitches. This is exactly what happened in the end on these slow tracks.

Q. Do you think the loss to New Zealand hurt the team more than the defeat against Australia?

A. We surprisingly took time to adjust to the slowness of the wicket. Unlike an ODI World Cup, it is a short tournament, you don’t have a lot of time to adjust to the conditions. Someone like Sophie Devine was able to score that many runs against us and she is not even used to playing on slow tracks and also was a little out of form , meaning thereby we bowled poorly and fielded quite mediocrely.

Q. Considering the frequent changes in the batting order (Harmanpreet and Jemimah juggled between number 3 and 4, would it be fair to say there was lack of role clarity in that department?

A. We expect the openers to do well, we always expect Shafali to go big. But things have changed over the years, both the openers need to go well now, there cannot be over reliance on just one opener. Smriti is a terrific stroke player she should have the luxury in the team to bat more freely and rotation of strike should be a regular feature in the partnership. The middle overs have always been a bane. In most games we suffer from same problem, we don’t run hard between overs and don’t sometimes capitalise on the lose deliveries or fifth or sixth bowlers . We leave too much to do for the last five. Richa is a superb striker, infact India’s best in the last 2 years but sadly she couldn’t get going in this World Cup. The powerplay and the death overs is where we do well in but in the middle overs we’ve to find ways to get better. I was doing commentary in the Asia Cup. To be very honest, I didn’t know what was happening. I’m sure they were aware that Asia Cup is the last series of matches that they’re going to play before the World Cup. When you know that this is the last game time that you’re going to have before you enter the big tournament you do at least 70 percent of your planning or 80% of your planning. Like who your number 5 and number 6 are, these are people who would walk in a particular situation. But there it seemed they were playing only for that tournament. It didn’t seem like it was in anywhere closer to… what we got to see in the World Cup. We could have given more opportunities to the bench against lower-ranked teams in Asia Cup but we didn’t. Why does the men’s team do well? Because immediately after a big series or a big tournament, they’re trying others. If we are talking about depth then when are we giving them chances?

Q. A lot of work was done in the fielding department ahead of the World Cup but it did not produce the desired results. Would you agree?

A. Against Australia, I was very disappointed to see, other than Radha Yadav and Jemimah I don’t think there was anybody else. So we cannot have just two players out of the eleven fielding well. In terms of fitness, we need to have like a benchmark. You can’t do much in a month? It’s something that you have to do around the year. It’s not like just before the tournament, you have a camp and it’s going to really show the difference on the field in pressure situations. Dubai ring lights anyway make catching tough.

Q. Harmanpreet Kaur has captained India in T20 World Cups since 2018 but the results have not come. Should the selectors move on from her and appoint someone younger?

A. It’s up to BCCI and the selectors to take a call but If they are looking to change this would be the ideal time because if you delay more then we have another World Cup on the horizon ( two years ). If you are not doing now, then don’t do it later. Then it is too close to the World Cup. Smriti is there of course and can be a choice to consider for the selectors (has been vice-captain for long) but I personally think someone like Jemimah, she’s 24, she’s young, she will serve you longer in the T20’s and she’s someone who I feel on the field gets that energy. She speaks to everybody. I was very impressed by her in this tournament. Despite playing those cameo roles, she never could convert her starts, but she is someone who really made an effort to build a momentum if there was no momentum and if there was a momentum she tried to carry that momentum.