‘Winning Asia Cup is fine, but 2027 ICC Champions Trophy will be high pressure’ Diana Edulji

India players celebrate their win over Sri Lanka in the Women’s T20 Asia Cup final in Dubai on Sunday. Pic/BCCI

[popcorn number="5" desc="No. of wins for India during their unbeaten title run at the Women's T20 Asia Cup" class="Default"]

[popcorn number="8" desc="No. of Women's Asia Cup titles won by India (four in ODIs, four in T20Is); the most by any team" class="Default"]

[popcorn number="129" desc="No. of runs scored by the opening partnership of Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana; the highest in any women's T20I final " class="Default"]

On Sunday, Harmanpreet Kaur's Indian team beat Sri Lanka by 72 runs to clinch the title at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. There was no silverware for the winners as they refused to walk up on stage to receive it from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who also heads the Pakistan Cricket Board and is the interior minister of Pakistan. When asked what she felt about the decision to stay away from the presentation, former India women's skipper Diana Edulji said, "It's a BCCI decision and we should follow it."

Reacting to India's win in Dubai, Edulji put things in perspective. "We won, but there was no competition for us. Even then, except for the openers and our bowlers, who did well, we were found wanting in the middle-order. The middle order issues have to be sorted out. We need a proper No. 3. We can't keep rotating. Sometimes Deepti [Sharma] comes up the order. At times, she's batting very low in the order. Roles have to be... [defined] and say ‘this is your role and you have to do this'. Luckily our bowlers are able to win matches," said Edulji, who called for a change in captaincy. "We are holding back Smriti Mandhana for a long time. By the time the next World Cup comes along, Harman [37] will be nearing 40, so let's give a good run to Smriti and look at two youngsters as vice-captains. My humble request to Harman would be to let people ask why and not why not," added Edulji. Harmanpreet's run of scores at the Asia Cup was 5, 10, 18', 24', and a run-a-ball 14 in Sunday's final.

Edulji called for better planning for the inaugural ICC Women's Champions Trophy which will take place from February 14 to 28 next year at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai and the Vadodara International Cricket Stadium in Vadodara. It will be a six-team event, featuring Australia, England, India, New Zealand, South Africa, and Sri Lanka. "Winning the Asia Cup is fine, but look at the Champions Trophy too. It's being played at home and there will be additional pressure. We need to have scores above 170-180 going forward, so we can match the top countries in the Champions Trophy," said Edulji, also going on to highlight some issues in player selection.

"I can't understand why we are carrying Renuka Thakur and Arundhati Reddy. Rather, give some youngsters a chance to gain experience, groom them so that we have a bench strength for pacers. In the T20 World Cup, you didn't give Kranti Gaud a chance and then she became your best Test bowler. Her confidence must have boosted a lot after getting five wickets in an innings at Lord's. It's not a small achievement and she has proved herself even in T20s, giving you the breakthroughs in the Powerplay. Kamalini is also a good find. We need to think ahead now and not just go by likes and dislikes," Edulji signed off.