Having all-rounders who can bat has led to India adopting a six-bowler strategy, says Munish Bali

Birmingham, July 11 (IANS) With India securing their first-ever women’s T20I series win in England at Manchester, they now stand on the cusp of signing off with a 4-1 scoreline when they take the field for the fifth and final game at Edgbaston on Saturday.

One of the standout aspects of India’s series win in England has been the bowlers hitting the right notes via being spin-heavy and having six options on offer for the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side to rotate in 20 overs. Munish Bali, India’s fielding coach, stated that going with a six-bowler strategy was adopted by the side owing to having all-rounders who can add handy runs with the bat.

“Look, all our bowlers can bat also. So, that’s why we have adopted that six-bowler strategy. It is helping us in a great way. Every time, if someone does not have a good day, or if a bowler misses out in your six bowling options, especially when you have all-rounders like Amanjot, Sneh Rana, Radha, and Deepti, then that’s the reason why we have gone with more spinners and six bowlers.”

“If you see, our spinners have been our strength from the start, and then we backed them here. We know we have experienced spinners like Sneh Rana and Deepti, and then Radha is there. So, we followed our best strengths,” said Bali in the pre-match press conference on Friday.

What has also earned India widespread plaudits is the fielding performance, especially in getting the series-clinching win by six wickets at Old Trafford, with Radha and Arundhati Reddy shining with their brilliant catches.

Bali attributed India’s near-flawless fielding performances, which were visible during the ODI tri-series win in Sri Lanka, to the work put in during two weeks of camps at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru before leaving for England.

“All these kids, they wanted to become a good fielding side, and we want to be one, as there is an attitude to be that. So, they always wanted to do well, and the commitment they showed, not just in the match, during our practice sessions, also they have shown the same intensity on the ground. I am very happy, but still, we have to go a long way.”

“We had a camp in COE. In that, we did some specific work on high catching, ground fielding, and worked a lot on fitness so that our athleticism is good. We did specific high catching drills, direct hit drills, ground fielding work, and how to cut the angles. We are still working on that only to get better,” he said.

Quizzed on work done to cut the fielding angles, Bali explained what he meant by that term. “So, cutting the angles is basically, you have to approach towards the ball. You have to take a shorter route to stay towards the ball, whether you are standing at the boundary line or the inner circle.”

“So, we did lots of drills regarding that – like how fast we can come to the ball. For that, we need to be good athletes, so we worked on that with a fitness trainer, and that's working a lot for us.”

The vision of making India a good fielding team has started to take shape in England, something which has been on the mind of Bali and head coach Amol Muzumdar, apart from captain Harmanpreet being vocal about it in various previous press conferences.

“Back when I had joined the team (in 2022), we had decided on one thing: wanting to become a good fielding side. We all needed to contribute towards that and work together. Every player, senior or junior, responded to that. It was a shared dream that came from the players as well.”

“They wanted to do well and feel like Australia and England (in terms of fielding benchmarks). We knew that we were doing the work in the background, so sooner or later, the results would come. When you’re fielding for 120 balls in a T20I match, it isn’t possible to get 120 out of 120 right. There may be errors, but they make sure to work on that.”

Bali also appreciated young left-arm spinner N. Shree Charani for making vast improvements in her fielding since being brought into the national set-up. “Well, everyone else is good. But I am very happy with Shree Charani. The way she is coming up as a youngster, she takes extra catches and is doing very good. She took a brilliant catch in the second T20I and even affected a run-out. She is moving well, and so I am very happy with her.”

Bali signed off by lauding Richa Ghosh for doing the hard yards to become a better wicketkeeper. So far in England, Richa has taken four catches and effected two stumpings. “Richa is very hardworking. Let me say one thing first - her work ethic is excellent. No matter what, she has to do her keeping routines. The more she is doing, the better she is getting.”

“Even in the camps, she was working so hard on her keeping. Basically, she is working on her stance and hand-eye coordination. So, she is working very hard and by doing it regularly, she is getting better.”

--IANS

nr/bsk/