Reading view

Road to World T20: SA series rout a wake-up call for Harmanpreet & Co

28 April 2026 at 14:46

The euphoria over India’s first-ever ICC Women’s World Cup win (50 overs) being a distant memory now, it’s time for Harmanpreet Kaur & Co to take a fresh guard for a tilt at the upcoming T20 World Cup in June-July in England. The current form of the Women in Blue, however, raises an element of concern as South Africa snubbed them 4-1 in a five-match T20 series at home which ended on Monday, 28 April.

The final T20 in Benoni saw skipper Laura Wolvdaart leading by example, yet again, with a power packed 92 off just 56 balls as India fell short in the chase by 23 runs. It was an insipid performance by the Indian team overall as they looked out of sorts in this format—failing to exploit the powerplay while their bowling unit failed to make early breakthroughs in the earlier matches. The fielding looked sluggish in parts and a disappointed Harmanpreet later admitted it was a kind of wake-up call and they needed to ‘regroup’ soon.

The best showing by Indian women in the T20 World Cup so far had been a runners up finish in the 2020 edition Down Under, while the previous edition in 2024 in the UAE saw them exiting from the group stages. The shortest format, if truth be told, is still a work in progress for the Indian team though a 2-1 series win in Australia last February turned out to be their only silver lining in a tour Down Under.

In a multi-format tour, the returns were dismal as India suffered a 3-0 sweep in the ODI series (all heavy losses) while Australia beat them by 10 wickets in a one-off Test—with the visitors failing to reach 200 in either innings. The focus, for now, will be to sharpen their game for the T20 showpiece and the pressure of expectations will be huge after their historic triumph in the ODI World Cup at home.

’’We need to sit together as a group and think how to move forward. Disappointing for us, lots of positives and learnings for us,’’ Harmanpreet said at the post-match presentation. A look at the team composition in the last series reveals that the Women in Blue have not been able to create a horses-for-courses policy to excel in this format—overtly relying on the ODI stalwarts like their captain, deputy Smriti Mandhana (rested for last two matches as South Africa had already taken a 3-0 lead), Jemimah Rodrigues as well as Deepti Sharma, Player of the Tournament in ODI World Cup.

‘’We did well in patches today. In batting, the powerplay was something which cost us as we didn’t get too many runs and lost two wickets. It’s disappointing, we need to keep working hard,’’ remarked Harmanpreet.

The team is now scheduled to tour England for a three-match T20I series starting in end-May and will serve as their final preparation for the 2026 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. A tough challenge hence awaits—and it’s time that the likes of Shafali Varma and Richa Ghosh, whose explosive style suits the format which is pushing the boundaries, to take up more responsibility.

Harmanpreet Kaur (right) and Bharti Fulmali cross over during their partnership

National Herald

IPL: How Shreyas Iyer the 'Sarpanch' loves to prove his critics wrong

By: Gautam Bhattacharyya

28 April 2026 at 13:15

There are no prizes for guessing that the glue holding the Punjab Kings, underachievers over the years despite assembling big names on board, has been their captain Shreyas Iyer along with head coach Ricky Ponting for the past two years. The results are showing: a runners-up finish last year after making the play-offs for the first time since 2014 and now staying unbeaten after seven matches to be on the cusp of back-to-back last four spots.

The only point they have lost so far is thanks to a rain-affected match—which reflects the team’s consistency and a new-found self belief that they are capable of turning a match around from anywhere. Their last game against Delhi Capitals on Saturday was a case in point when it looked that PBKS could be heading for their first-ever loss of the season after KL Rahul & Co set up one of the highest totals in IPL history with 264 runs.

However, PBKS kept their date with the highest IPL chase and the captain showed a flair in chasing with a fluent unbeaten 71 off 36 balls (total of 279 runs from seven matches on the eve of tonight's game). ‘’In my mind, I egged on myself by saying that we just need one run more from what they have scored,’’ the 31-year-old said as he continues to lead by example, having carved out an unit based on local talent, belief rather than big names and giving each of them a long rope—an ethos which must have had a buy-in from Ponting himself.

This has led to fresh calls for making the Sarpanch—as Shreyas is now popular in the social media—to be a part of India’s T20 set-up again so that he can be considered for captaincy. The grapevine has it that there is a school of thinking which believes that despite retaining the T20 World Cup, the clock is ticking on Suryakumar Yadav as he is already 36 and has ceased to be the batter that he was as a world No.1 T20 batter not so long ago.

The re-assessment of the Mumbaikar as a captaincy material in the white ball set-up has come up organically as Shreyas had been proving himself in the role for the last three years—first collaborating with Gautam Gambhir to lead Kolkata Knight Riders to a IPL title after 10 years and then turning around the fortunes for PBKS. He has been receiving wholehearted endorsements from the likes of Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan, but the contentious issue is whether any move to accommodate Shreyas in Indian T20 side will meet with an approval from the all powerful Gambhir.

What is also remarkable is the way Shreyas has raised the benchmark for himself in the last two years to prove the naysayers wrong about him. Speaking on Jio Star’s Believe, the PBKS captain said: ‘’I have people around me who say that in this situation, you can't do it. It’s impossible. I don’t like hearing that. As a cricketer playing at the highest level, I just can't accept it. Then in my mind, I decide that I have to prove them wrong. The challenge becomes: I was in this situation, how can I come back stronger?' I push myself harder and try to return as soon as possible to prove them wrong. That thought keeps driving me, especially after injuries.’’

The short ball weakness taunt, for example, kept ringing in Iyer’s ears for a long time. In his own words, the batter admitted that the taunts ‘triggered’ him and he decided to put in the hard work to overcome this deficiency. ‘’People said I would never fix my short-ball problem. That triggered me. I wanted to prove them wrong by performing well, so I worked hard on it. Earlier, I would just take a single or try to keep the ball down, but now my mindset has changed. If I see a short ball in my zone, I am going to hit it for a six,’’ said Shreyas, who had been working with Pravin Amre and Abhishek Nayar.

‘’During my batting practice, I now try to play around 50 overs and face over 300 balls. That helps me understand what works for me. I don’t follow a fixed pattern. I give myself more time in the middle and face real bowlers, not just sidearm throws. The more I face bowlers, the clearer my movement becomes,’’ he analysed.

No wonder he likes a man in the zone. It just needs a vindication by the powers that-be in Indian cricket!