3 key players who let India down in the 2024 Women's T20 World Cup clash vs Australia ft. Smriti Mandhana

After their defeat to New Zealand at the start of the group stage, India were always going to face an uphill battle in the 2024 Women's T20 World Cup. They had an excellent chance to stay alive by beating Australia, but things went awry on Sunday, October 13.

India didn't take the shift from Dubai to Sharjah very well, falling short of the Aussie total by nine runs. The Women in Blue are now on the brink of elimination and need a favorable result in tomorrow's game between New Zealand and Pakistan to make it out of Group A.

Captain Harmanpreet Kaur stated at the post-match press conference that India are dependent on a couple of players to do the heavy lifting. While that might be true, it's also a fact that the senior players haven't stepped up often enough when necessary.

On that note, here are three key Indian players who let the team down against Australia.

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#3 Richa Ghosh

One of India's most dangerous batters in the T20 format, Richa Ghosh hasn't been anywhere close to her best in the 2024 Women's T20 World Cup so far. The youngster endured a disappointing outing in both departments against Australia on Sunday.

Richa was untidy behind the stumps, letting a few wides slip through and failing to collect anything cleanly. She also set off for a non-existent run and was caught well short by an accurate throw from Phoebe Litchfield.

If India were to scale down Australia's total, especially in good time, they needed Richa to deliver. Unfortunately, it didn't happen.

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#2 Smriti Mandhana

Smriti Mandhana is another player who has been completely off the pace in the tournament so far. She has struggled to get going at the top of the order, with her slow starts costing India heavily.

On Sunday, Mandhana labored to six runs in 12 balls even as Shafali Verma tried to show attacking intent at the other end. The left-hander was trapped in front of Sophie Molineux while playing a bizarre cross-batted nudge.

It's a shot she sometimes executes well, but only when it's on a leg-stump line. With Sharjah clearly not conducive to such an attempt, Mandhana should've exercised more caution. Either way, the opener's start was already too slow by the time she was dismissed.

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#1 Harmanpreet Kaur

The scorecard seems to suggest that Harmanpreet Kaur was one of India's best players on Sunday. To be fair to her, she made the game's highest individual score and became the team's highest all-time run-scorer in the T20I format. While the skipper was at the crease, the Women in Blue were in with a shot.

However, Harmanpreet's terribly slow start seriously hampered India's chase. She was on 19 off 25 at one point, with only one four hit during that period. The boundaries she hit later helped her strike rate, but she took a whopping 41 balls to reach a run a ball.

More importantly, Harmanpreet's captaincy was bizarre. She didn't bowl out Radha Yadav and didn't get any overs out of the part-time spinners in the side despite the pitch providing grip and turn. In the last over of the chase, the 35-year-old was reluctant to stay on the strike, a strategy that was always unlikely to succeed.

India's batting order was rather suspect too, although that was likely influenced by the team management as much as the captain. Harmanpreet needs to take a good long look at her tactics against Australia although it must be said that she has been one of India's best batters at the competition.