Women’s World Cup: For India to win a title, system must fill the gaps | Cricket

As the ball rose into the night sky and settled into Harmanpreet Kaur’s hands, it seemed India had scratched themselves back into the match. Three runs would be needed off the last ball with tail-enders at the crease.

And then the umpire’s hand rose. Deepti Sharma had marginally overstepped. South Africa’s Mignon du Preez survived, and two balls later hit the winning runs off the last ball.

Five years India had waited for this ODI World Cup. Five years of drive and determination. Five years’ worth of dreams. Five years added to careers old and young. Only to be denied by a millimetre of white paint.

Surely that no ball was the moment it all went wrong for India. Or maybe it was a few overs before when Pooja Vastrakar was handed the ball, providing pace that the South Africans could use.

Or perhaps it was in the over before that, when one of India’s best fielders, Smriti Mandhana, dropped du Preez. Or maybe it was earlier in the first innings, when India’s batters scored only three boundaries in the death overs. Or perhaps it was the needless run out of Shafali Verma.

Maybe it happened two days before this game when Jhulan Goswami’s body finally betrayed her will and kept her off the field. Maybe it should never have come down to this game at all. Maybe India could have been better with the ball against Australia, after posting 277. Maybe India should not have collapsed to 134 against England. Maybe India should not have been timid against New Zealand, scoring only 50 runs in 20 overs chasing 261.

You see where I’m going with this, don’t you. I’m trying to remove recency bias, which causes us to remember the most recent event as the most important. India didn’t crash out of a World Cup because of that no ball. World Cups are rarely won (or lost) by individuals, or teams, or moments. World Cups are won by systems.

A good system ensures that new batting positions don’t need to be tried in a World Cup. A good system ensures that the pace attack is not too dependent on the fitness of a 39-year-old. A good system ensures that there is continuity of coaching staff leading into a global event. A good system ensures that talents like Shafali get every opportunity possible in ODIs leading up to a World Cup. A good system is one in which players don’t have to wait 365 days to play international cricket amid a pandemic while other countries resume in a few months.

A good system is one in which efforts to start a Women’s IPL grow, not shrink. A good system is one in which a U-16 tournament finds talent on purpose, not by accident.

India had none of the above going into this World Cup. Yet Indian women’s cricket has many things going for it. Domestic tournaments and a player pool that, in numbers, are the envy of every other country. A national team that is well paid and taken care of. A fan base so large that some of these players are bonafide stars. Representation in overseas T20 leagues. The stewardship of two living legends in the team.

And yet India have never won a World Cup. And will not, until the system fills the gaps.

This is not to say that we should blame only the system and the players bear none of the responsibility. If they win a World Cup, it is they who win the plaudits and rewards. It is only fair and necessary that this loss demands some introspection on their part. There are moments in each of these games that will haunt these players, moments where they will feel they could have done better. They will think about ‘controlling the controllables’, and in the days to come, use the pain of the present to chart out the future.

The system must do the same. A comprehensive review of Indian women’s cricket is necessary to chart a long-term path forward and identify what needs to change to win a World Cup. India have failed to make the semi-finals of a global event for the first time since 2016. India failed to beat even one of the top four sides in this World Cup. This is a wake-up call. If we don’t act now, in a few years’ time we’ll be talking about another damn millimetre rather than the things that matter.