Is this Indian women’s cricket team the new chokers in cricket?

Well, no doubt team India has made every Indian proud by winning the silver medal in the
2022 Commonwealth Games by defeating really great teams like New Zealand and England
however it was again a similar result in a crucial match where team India having played
superbly in the match have lost the match due to just a few end overs of batting carelessly.
Sunday 7 th August India lost their last 8 wickets for mere 34 runs. India having lost two early
wickets were revived by Harmanpreet and Jemimah Rodrigues who put on 96 important run partnerships.

This was not the only instance where India had choked in the final few overs. We all
remember the 50 overs world cup finals of 2017 which was played at Lord’s cricket ground
where India collapsed from 191/3 to be bowled out for 219 losing to England by Just 9 runs
with 8 balls left. India played brilliantly for most of the innings however choked when the 4 th
wicket fell for 191 which seen the downfall of the batting side to finish their innings at 219 all out losing to England.

Another such instance was the ICC women’s T20 final of 2020 which was played at MCG
where India lost the final by losing to Australia by 85 runs. Having played brilliantly through
the entire competition without losing a single match and even beating Australia in the 1st
group stage match by 17 runs couldn’t handle the pressure of the finals eventually losing by 85 runs to a team which was already beaten by them in the group stages.

No doubt that the Indian women’s team has quality and players with good potential, however
whenever they have had to play in a crucial high-pressure match, they have succumbed to
the pressure of losing those matches. Maybe including more international tours and more
matches in the calendar year It is now up to BCCI and the team management to give it a
serious thought on how to help the team overcome this and ensure the team doesn’t fall
under pressure.

[Image courtesy of the telegraph and women’s web respectively]