Playing for your country at the highest level is a dream every cricketer harbours, the feeling of making a debut is unmatched, but how many is too many? On Sunday in Colombo, India captain Harmanpreet Kaur said something at the toss that has now become a regularity: there was a debutant in the playing XI for the , with Madhya Pradesh pacer Kranti Goud getting her first international cap. It was the fourth different debutant for India just in this tri-series in Sri Lanka alone, continuing a trend we have seen over the past year or so.
Picking India’s three-match ODI series against Australia that started on December 28, 2023, as a starting point, India have handed debuts to a whopping 17 players in the 23 matches they have played to date. From Saika Ishaque and Shreyanka Patil in that series to Kashvee Gautam, Sree Charani, Shuchi Upadhyay and Kranti Goud in the Tri-series in Colombo, the Indian selectors and management have been generous in fielding newcomers. While it could be seen as an indication of the widening talent pool, and injuries have played a part too, the bigger concern is the lack of continuity.
In comparison, during this same period, Australia – the benchmark in women’s cricket – have had one debutant across 18 matches, to exciting young batter Georgia Voll. The other top World Cup title contender England have played 18 matches in this duration and handed 6 debuts. But even all of those came in the September 2024 series against Ireland when Kate Cross led a much-changed side.
India’s 17 debuts since December 2023 is by some distance the most across the 8 teams who will be playing at the ODI World Cup starting end of September in India. While each of those cricketers would have their own journeys to the top of the international game, and there is nothing to take away from their efforts, the lack of consistency in selection leading up to a home World Cup makes for worrying reading.
In his stint as India’s head coach, Amol Muzumdar, along with captain Harmanpreet, seems to be searching for the right bowling combination. India have used 32 different players in ODIs since that series in against Australia 17 months back.
A majority of the newcomers have either been spinners or medium pacers.
The full list of India’s debutants in women’s ODI since December 27, 2023 reads like this: Saika Ishaque, Shreyanka Patil, Mannat Kashyap, S Asha, Arundhati Reddy, Tejal Hasabnis, Saima Thakor, Priya Mishra, Titas Sadhu, Minnu Mani, Pratika Rawal, Tanuja Kanwar, Sayali Sathgare, Kashvee Gautam, Sree Charani, Shuchi Upadhyay, Kranti Goud.
The clear pattern is India’s search for a potent bowling unit. Renuka Singh Thakur (now injured) and Deepti Sharma have perhaps been the only two consistent picks, while the remaining spots have witnessed musical chairs. Among the debutants, only Saima and Pratika have featured in at least 10 matches, most of them out of reckoning after a few games. Each new debut is a question mark over a player who was picked and dropped without too many games to feature in. And given the lack of transparency in Indian women team selections, with barely any information on the reasoning for players getting overlooked, it is tough to understand what the thought process is heading towards a World Cup.
With only 15 slots available ultimately, and the batting unit appearing largely settled, the big question is what have the Indian selectors, coach and captain actually learned from using this vast pool of players? And additionally, are the players aware where they stand and what they need to do to seal a spot in the squad once they get selected? Just five months away from the World Cup, and only scheduled series left to play, there are more questions than answers around India’s squad composition.
