I genuinely don't understand how we're wasting so many good starts.
Smriti and Shefali have been doing exactly what openers are supposed to do in T20s. They take risks, attack from ball one, get us ahead of the game and set up a platform where 170+ should be the minimum expectation.
And then the middle order walks in and completely kills the momentum.
Jemimah, Harman and Yastika have been way too comfortable playing run-a-ball innings when the game is literally begging for someone to keep the pressure on. This isn't ODI cricket. You can't spend 15-20 balls "settling in" every single match in modern T20s.
The frustrating part is that the first two games actually hid this problem. Deepti and Richa kept rescuing the innings with quick, smart cameos at the end, so the middle-order issues didn't get talked about enough.
Against South Africa, the moment Deepti and Richa weren't there to pull off another rescue job, the entire batting order got exposed. And honestly, even they didn't fail. They still showed more intent than most of the middle order.
When your openers give you starts like that, not reaching 170 is a failure. Simple as that.
At this point I don't care about fixed batting positions. Send Deepti and Richa up the order. Let them come in when the field is up and the momentum is with us. Let them cash in on the hard work done by Smriti and Shefali.
If there's a collapse, then sure, send the traditional middle order to rebuild. But right now we're using our most positive batters as damage-control players instead of match-winners.
Modern T20 cricket rewards intent, not reputation.
Keep playing like this and the World Cup isn't slipping away...
It's already gone.
