Photo Credit: Twitter Profile Photo of @DEdulji
The Indian women’s cricket team’s ongoing poor performances, including an early exit from the T20 World Cup in the UAE and a 3-0 ODI series loss to Australia, have left fans disappointed. Former India captain Diana Edulji, who played a key role in improving facilities for women’s cricket as a member of the BCCI‘s Committee of Administrators (CoA) in 2018-19, expressed her concerns.
“The performance of our women’s team for the past few months has been thoroughly disappointing,” Edulji told TOI during a visit to the Mumbai Cricket Association’s ‘cricket kit fair’ at Wankhede Stadium. She emphasized the need to build a younger team, saying, “If you have to lose, better to lose with younger players. At least, they will learn from the experience.”
When asked about leadership changes, Edulji dismissed the idea, stating, “I don’t think that the results will change if you change the captain (Harmanpreet Kaur) or the head coach (Amol Muzumdar). It’s the players who’ve to pull up their socks and perform much better than they currently are.”
A key concern raised by Edulji is the team’s lack of fitness, which she believes contributes to frequent injuries. “I think that our players are ‘zero’ when it comes to fitness,” she said, pointing to examples like Yastika Bhatia and Priya Punia suffering injuries shortly after returning to the team. “Because the players aren’t fit, their fielding and running between the wickets are really poor,” she added.
Edulji urged the BCCI to take steps to ensure players’ focus on Indian cricket, suggesting a ban on participation in overseas leagues. “The BCCI must bar our women players too from participating in these overseas T20 leagues. Now that you have the Women’s Premier League (WPL), who do you want to play in the Women’s Big Bash League or ‘The Hundred?’” she asked, highlighting that international players would still participate in the WPL due to its financial appeal.
She also called for standard boundary sizes in the WPL, criticizing the shorter boundaries used in previous editions. “There’s no point in reducing the boundaries for the WPL. Our players will get exposed badly in international cricket, as most of their shots will land up as catches in the outfield,” she remarked.
Expressing concern for the 2025 ODI World Cup in India, Edulji warned that repeated losses to Australia could damage the team’s confidence. She questioned the scheduling of a series against the West Indies so soon after the Australia tour, suggesting instead to play a team like Zimbabwe to regain momentum.
Edulji criticized captain Harmanpreet Kaur’s repeated remarks about needing to “learn” after each series. “After every tournament/series, you are saying the same thing — ‘we have a lot to learn.’ It’s deplorable that you are still learning after playing international cricket for so many years,” she said.
She also questioned the team’s frequent changes in the playing XI, citing the example of Arundhati Reddy, who took four wickets in the final ODI but was not included earlier in the series.
Finally, Edulji expressed disappointment with senior players, including Smriti Mandhana, despite her century in the final ODI. “Our senior players seem to have become complacent. They are just playing to save their place in the team for the next series,” she concluded.
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Name of Author: Cricexec Staff
