30 June,2026 09:46 AM IST | Mumbai | Subodh Mayure
Captain Harmanpreet Kaur and coach Amol Muzumdar in the dugout after India’s loss at Lord’s on Sunday. Pic/Bipin Patel
After Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian women's team crashed out of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup, losing their must-win game against Australia at Lord's on Sunday, former Indian women's team captain Diana Edulji believes it's time for India to have a separate women's team for the shortest version of the game.
"We must build a new team. We have to build a special team for T20, and have another special team for the 50-over format. We can't have [so many] players playing all three formats. One or two players maybe, but not many. It's not easy to play all three formats and expect to win championships. We have to push for specialist players. The WPL [Women's Premier League] is there. Take a few players under the COE [Centre of Excellence] and make them big hitters. We have players who can hit. There's [Kiran] Navgire, then [Bharti] Phulmali is there. You can even make one or two others go into a specialised camp and just improve their fitness," Edulji told mid-day on Monday.
India's bowlers failed to defend 170-5 against the Aussies, and Edulji felt Harmanpreet & Co had things under control initially, before losing the battle later. "I think we lost the game between the 15th and 17th over when they [Australia] were chasing. Till the 14th over, we were under control, and that one Radha Yadav over [innings 13th over in which she conceded 17 runs]... I couldn't understand the field placements.
Which side of the wicket you're going to bowl, have you worked that out and then bowled in that area only? I would've preferred 180-plus or a 190 score [to defend] looking at the depth of Australia's batting.
"The performance of our pacers was completely disappointing throughout the World Cup. We didn't even have one pacer playing all the games, [we] just kept chopping and changing. Somehow, strategy-wise also, we went wrong," Edulji signed off.
Two
Consecutive number of editions in which India failed to reach Women's T20 World Cup semi-finals
172-4
No. of runs scored by Australia against India on Sunday - the highest successful run chase in the Women's T20 World Cup
