T20 World Cup: Harmanpreet & Co seek mental help to break semis jinx

The semi-final jinx has been haunting Harmanpreet Kaur & Co  for the past three T20 World Cups in their pursuit of that elusive first title. As the Indian women’s team embark on the upcoming edition in the UAE early next month, the team management tried to address the psychological aspect too by roping in the services of a Mumbai-based sports psychologist during their fitness camp.   

Mugdha Bavare, a former swimmer and counselling psychologist from the University of Mumbai and founder-member of the Disha Counselling Centre, had a number of sessions which Harmanpreet found useful. ‘’Working with Mugdha ma'am, we really felt good and we wanted to execute it on the ground. It’s been helping us,’’ the experienced batter said.

India gave it their all in chasing 173 but fell just short against Australia in the semi-final at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023. However, the Women’s Asia Cup this year, where India have historically bossed around, Sri Lanka turned the tables on them in the final to dent their confidence.

The 'Women in Blue' have had some mixed results in bilateral T20Is since the end of the last edition in 2023. They beat Bangladesh twice (including a 5-0 win in the series earlier this year), but lost series to Australia and England prior to that. A drawn series against South Africa in July was their final bilateral T20I series ahead of the tournament.

‘’It was hard as last time we came so close as we lost the semis,’’ Kaur said at a joint press conference with head coach Amol Muzumdar on Tuesday. ‘’But every time you need to think about the positives, work hard on yourself and your fitness. We’ve tried to tick all the boxes before going into the tournament.’’

‘’We’ve had some tough tours and series on the way to this [T20] World Cup,’’ Muzumdar said. ‘’Really happy with the way they’ve performed,’’ he added. India begin their T20 World Cup campaign against New Zealand in Dubai on 4 October.

Wanted: Mental fortitude

Both the captain and head coach admitted that an area where the team can improve is mental fortitude. ‘’After the Asia Cup finals, we sat as a team and discussed areas of improvement,’’ Muzumdar said.

The skipper and coach remained positive about India’s top six in the batting line-up, which boasts big names like Kaur, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana or Shafali Varma. Muzumdar hailed the top six as the best in the country, but the No.3 spot in the batting line-up remains a mystery.

‘’The top six are brilliant, the best in the country,’’ the head coach said. ‘’Of course, we’ve identified [who plays No.3] but we’ll only reveal that just before the XI is announced. No.3 is really special to us. I know for a fact that a No.3 position sets the game. We’ll reveal it only closer to the game.’’

Dayalan Hemalatha has batted the most times in that No.3 position in T20Is since the last tournament for India, but she hasn’t had much success in recent times.There are a few other options up India's sleeve but it remains to be seen whether they break the trio of Kaur, Jemimah and Richa Ghosh, who occupy the spots from number four to six and use one of them at No.3.

 A bigger conundrum will be the bowling combination on the UAE wickets, where the toss is often of utmost importance because of the dew factor. ‘’We have mostly night games,’’ Kaur said. ‘’Dew plays a big role in UAE. We’ve good spinners, but we also have Pooja and Renuka, who can also have an impact.

‘’Right now it’s difficult to tell [without assessing conditions]. We’ll see the conditions, and pick the most effective player on a given day.’’