Women’s T20 WC: Both Kranti And Renuka Should Start In Playing Eleven With Arundhati, Says Anjum Chopra

Women’s T20 WC: Both Kranti and Renuka should start in playing eleven with Arundhati, says Anjum Cho (Image Source: IANS)

Both Kranti Gaud: Former India captain Anjum Chopra believes both Kranti Gaud and Renuka Singh Thakur should start in India's playing eleven alongside Arundhati Reddy for the 2026 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, asserting that the trio forms the backbone of India's pace attack regardless of the experiments seen during the preceding T20I series against England.

India’s bowling unit remains the bigger concern heading into their first clash against Pakistan at Edgbaston on Sunday, especially with form and selection still unsettled. Deepti Sharma’s struggles since the Australia tour, the absence of a genuine all‑rounder like Amanjot Kaur, and England’s repeated exposure of India’s death‑bowling frailties have left the think‑tank searching for answers.

Rookie pacer Nandni Sharma was picked on the back of a promising WPL debut, but her lack of game time in the warm‑ups raises questions, after she picked three wickets on debut in Chelmsford. Renuka Singh Thakur showed prodigious swing against England and even produced a jaffa to dismiss Danni Wyatt‑Hodge, but leaked runs in the death overs.

India’s two warm‑up fixtures - a 26‑run win over West Indies and a six‑run loss to England - offered little clarity, with more questions than answers about the bowling pool, especially with Arundhati and Kranti having inconsistent returns.

“We don't know why Renuka didn't get a game in the first three T20s that India played against England. I mean, whether they wanted to give others an opportunity like Nandni Sharma out there in the centre, because consistency was not there with even Kranti Gaud. In my view, Kranti Gaud and Renuka Singh Thakur both start in the playing eleven for India with Arundhati Reddy.

“So, if you go by that fact, then you can only play two spinners. You can't play Charani, Radha, Deepti, and Shreyanka together. I mean, you have to take a pick. You can't have that kind of a build-up because India is obviously missing all-rounders here,” Anjum told IANS in an exclusive conversation ahead of India playing its first game against Pakistan at Edgbaston on Sunday.

In the spin bowling department, India need to decide their make-up between an expensive Deepti Sharma (who was rested from warm-up games), Shreyanka Patil, N Sree Charani, and Radha Yadav. Anjum felt that Shreyanka would be a vital cog in the wheel if India were to enter the semifinals from a tough group featuring Australia, South Africa, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the Netherlands.

“Look, Shreyanka is actually playing for the very first time in England. She has never played in England. This is her very first outing, and it does take time for any cricketer to adapt and understand the conditions - whether it's hot or cold does not matter.

“The fact that you are playing in a different country, on a different soil, in different conditions. Even if they are closer to how you feel at home, they are still alien. So, it does take time. So, Shreyanka, for me, should be playing each and every game.

“She should be out there bowling in the centre as much as possible because Charani has experience of bowling in England, and she doesn’t have it yet. So, for me, Shreyanka will become a very important cog in the wheel in case the Indian team decides to play her, which I feel they will do somewhere in the middle games.”

On the experiments carried out against England and in the warm-ups, including a trend of Deepti being introduced late in the innings as a bowler, Anjum explained, "That is okay. It's fair to say that you need to give everyone a chance. Like Arundhati Reddy, I mean, before this series, I had rarely seen her bowl with a new ball, primarily because she has better control when she comes in after the new-ball bowlers have bowled.

“So, when she bowls in the middle overs, that's absolutely fine for her, or maybe in the death overs. But in this series, in all three games, she took the new ball. Not that she didn't bowl well, or that she bowled badly. She bowled really well. In patches, only one of the games, she got hit towards the end.

“But then, where her initial part of the bowling was good, her latter part, or maybe the death bowling, did not really help India as well, because I think in one of the games, she conceded about 23 or 24 runs in one of the games (in Bristol), and that can happen to any bowler.

“But because Arundhati has been getting that new ball, again, it makes a difference as to who will bowl from the other side. So, then you don't see Deepti Sharma taking the new ball. But again, I say, I feel these three matches were more about understanding and weighing your options and giving everyone a chance and an opportunity away from their regular positions.

“But then, where her initial part of the bowling was good, her latter part, or maybe the death bowling, did not really help India as well, because I think in one of the games, she conceded about 23 or 24 runs in one of the games (in Bristol), and that can happen to any bowler.

--IANS

Article Source: IANS