Heartbreak in Cape Town: The BCCI should stop playing musical chairs with the Indian women’s cricket team’s coaches.

Women in Blue are no strangers to heartbreak. They have gone through such phases in ICC events on a regular basis since reaching the final of the 50-over World Cup in 2017, where they collapsed near the finish line against England.
They lost to England in the T20 World Cup semifinals in the Caribbean a year later, and to Australia in the T20 World Cup final in Melbourne two years later. When cricket returned to the Commonwealth Games last year, they settled for silver after losing to Australia in the final in Birmingham.
And now they’re in Cape Town, where they lost the semi finals to Australia by 5 runs. Like in the CWG final and the 2017 World Cup final, India was on course for a statement win u2014 Australia had no answers for Harmanpreet Kaur u2014 only for their captain’s untimely dismissal to ensure the story repeated itself.
It’s difficult to keep myself in check. I’m not sure, Harmanpreet admitted. Right now, I’m suffering from a hangover. I have no idea what is going on. However, when we return to the room, we will know how many more days it will take. But I believe we played well. That’s all I have to say, she concluded.
Dropped catches, poor fielding, middle-order mix-ups, failure to close out crucial moments… all played a role in India’s demise. For a team that aspires to be the dominant force in women’s cricket, there is still a lot of ground to make up on the field.
It is critical that India and the BCCI return to the drawing board to develop a vision and ensure continuity in support staff. With only two months until the tournament, the BCCI chose to shuffle – the team has had three different head coaches in the last three T20 World Cups.
Ramesh Powar, who has been the head coach since 2021, was assigned to the National Cricket Academy’s men’s wing in an internal shuffle that showed few signs of coming. Hrishikesh Kanitkar, who had been in charge of the men’s Under-19 and A teams as well as the senior women’s team as a batting consultant, was named captain for the T20 World Cup. The BCCI had Troy Cooley, a fast bowling coach who the team felt was necessary for the conditions in South Africa, to assist him.
With Powar absent, and spin being one of their team’s strong suits, Deepti Sharma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Radha Yadav, and Devika Vaidya were left to fend for themselves.
Even Sairaj Bahutule, who had previously been in South Africa with the victorious women’s Under-19 team – and whose experience of the conditions could have been useful – was not told to stay back, and was instead seen as part of the men’s team in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which includes R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel.
The Indian spinners were out-bowled by their English counterparts in their most important league match, and a loss meant they would face Australia in the semifinals. A strong support staff is essential for a team that is still in the development stage, as is continuity in planning.
Make no mistake: this team is not like the men’s team, which prefers a man-manager over a tactically nuanced coach. Given their youth and the system they come from, the women’s team requires a slew of support personnel who are technically proficient and can assist them tactically on the field.
Top teams that compete for top prizes all have consistency in their planning and let the process take over. However, by changing coaches almost every couple of years, either the players or the BCCI are not giving themselves the best chance of winning. Coaches are typically appointed from one 50-over World Cup cycle to the next, which includes two T20 World Cups.
However, Indian teams under Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet seem to be an exception and continue to pay the price.