Team India’s journey in the Women’s T20 World Cup came to an end rather disappointingly. The women in blue bowed out during the group stage with back-to-back defeats at the hands of New Zealand and Australia. Even with a quality squad, the women in blue always remained on the back foot once they lost the opening game against the Kiwis, thus failing to book a semifinal berth.
Following this below-par performance, the grapevine is agog with speculations that the Board of Control for Cricket in India, aided by the team management, may usher in a change in guard. In that future course, Harmanpreet Kaur’s position would likely be attacked.
According to a report by The Indian Express, head coach Amol Mazumdar will meet the BCCI officials along with the selection committee to chalk out plans regarding the future of the women’s team.
A source said,
“The BCCI will discuss whether to have a new captain on board. The board has given whatever the team required, and this is the right time for a new face to lead the team.”
This meeting is scheduled to take place ahead of the series against New Zealand starting on October 24. It is yet not known whether any change in captaincy, when decided, will be effective immediately or if she will be leading the side in this series.
She has led the side since her appointment in 2016. Though the team has reached the latter stages of major tournaments, including several finals, management is contemplating refreshing ahead of the much-important home ODI World Cup in 2025. “Harmanpreet will continue to be a very important member of the team, but the BCCI believes it’s time for a transition,” added the source. Kaur produced some good individual performances during the World Cup.
The current vice-captain, Smriti Mandhana, is a more likely candidate to take on the captaincy mantle, with proven leadership since she led Royal Challengers Bangalore into the WPL title in 2024. She has captained India when Kaur was unavailable.
Changing the captaincy may give the team a new perspective on struggling against key challenges in knockout matches against teams that have shown a very obvious rise during the last few years.
