Sunday's consolation five-wicket win against England notwithstanding, Harmanpreet Kaur and company must do much more to put up a strong show in the forthcoming women's T20 World Cup 2024 in September in Bangladesh.
A bunch of lessons and takeaways look from the three-match series which England won 2-1...
DOT-BALL MISERY: Chasing an imposing 197 in the first game, India had 51 dot balls. Simply put, eight and half overs went scoreless. In the second match, the Women in Blue were bowled out for 80 in 16.2 overs. Again, 53 balls, just one delivery short of 9 overs, weren't scored off.
SUB-PAR STRIKE RATES: None of the top six batters - Shafali Verma (116), Smriti Mandhana (100), Jemima Rodrigues (85), Harmanpreet Kaur(114), Richa Ghosh (108), Deepti Sharma (93) - had a 120-plus strike rate in the series. In comparison, Amy Jones, Nat Sciver-Brunt and Danni Wyatt all had 140-plus strike rates. Even the T20 career strike rates of the India batters needs improvement. Offie Deepti is India's most reliable bowler but the team needs more innovative and risk-taking batters at the top. Running between the wickets too lacked aggression. Shafali was reluctant to run hard even when chasing 197.
UNSURE AGAINST SPIN: Barring one or two occasions, the batters showed a marked reluctance to step out of the crease. Getting stuck proved disastrous, especially in the second game when the England spinners bundled India out for 80. India were at sea negotiating the offie (Charlie Dean), the left-arm spinner (Sophie Ecclestone) and leg-spinner (Sarah Glenn), who looked more incisive than their Indian counterparts.
1/10:3rd T20I: India grab consolation victory against England
AP
2/10:India beat England
<p>India sealed a five-wicket win over England in a low-scoring third and final Women's T20 International at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday. </p>PTI
3/10:Amanjot Kaur
<p>Playing for the first time in the series, Amanjot Kaur hit Sophie Ecclestone for three fours in the penultimate over to seal the win. </p>PTI
4/10:Consolation victory
<p>The consolation victory helped India finish the three-match series with a 1-2 scoreline ahead the one-off Test against the visitors from December 14. </p>AP
5/10:Finishing off the chase
<p>Having taken two wickets in the final over of England's innings earlier, Amanjot did well to finish off the 127-run chase with one over left. </p>AP
6/10:Richa Ghosh
<p>Needing 11 off the final two overs, India lost Richa Ghosh to Sophie Ecclestone, before Amanjot took them home comfortably. </p>AP
7/10:Smriti Mandhana
<p>India lost Shafali Verma (6) early, but Smriti Mandhana (48) and Jemimah Rodrigues (29) added 57 for the second wicket to put India's chase on track. </p>PTI
8/10:Shreyanka Patil
<p>Earlier, powered by their rookie spinners Shreyanka Patil (3-19) and Saika Ishaque (3-22), India shot out England for merely 126 in 20 overs. </p>ANI
9/10:Heather Knight
<p>Left reeling at 76/8 in the 15th over, after a collapse saw them lose 4 wickets for 9 runs in 20 balls, England skipper Heather Knight slammed a half-century. </p>AP
10/10:Much-needed win
<p>It was India's first win at home against England since March 2018 and before this win, they had suffered five straight defeats in the shortest format. </p>PTIABSENCE OF A GOOD SECOND PACER, LEGSPINNER: India made early breakthroughs in all three games courtesy Renuka Singh, whose sharp inswingers fetched her seven wickets. But both Pooja Vastrakar and the young Titas Sadhu were taken for runs. Also with Poonam Yadav out of the squad, the team was missing a quality legspinner.
NO PART-TIME BOWLERS IN ACTION: Captain Kaur hasn't bowled a single over in the past 28 T20 games for India. However, playing for Melbourne Renegades in the BBL, she bowled her off-breaks in five games. Shafali, whose 3/15 fetched India a victory against Bangladesh in Mirpur last year, wasn't used either. True, India have a good spinner of the same variety in Deepti, but part-timers should be employed too.
POOR FIELDING AND CATCHING: Regulation catches were dropped, stumpings missed. The ground fielding, especially in the first game, was woeful leading to 197, 20 more than India had ever chased.
BETTER USE OF DRS: India need to be more discerning and judicious in their use of DRS. In the second match, both Smriti and Harmanpreet took the DRS when they looked plumb leg-before. So did Jemima in the third game.
PERSIST WITH PERFORMING NEWCOMERS: Left-arm spinner Saika Ishaque and young off-break bowler Shreyanka Patil bowled well, claiming five wickets each. Patil is also a good fielder. Allrounder Amanjot Kaur displayed poise under pressure.
