'If you delay more then...': Mithali Raj wants India to move on from Harmanpreet Kaur as captain

If India is considering a change in leadership from Harmanpreet Kaur as their captain, the time to do so is now. This is the sentiment expressed by Mithali Raj, following India's disappointing exit from the women's T20 World Cup 2024. Harmanpreet has been at the helm since taking over from Raj in 2016 and has led the team in four T20 World Cups. However, the recent tournament yielded the poorest results yet, as India failed to advance past the group stage after reaching at least the semi-finals in the three previous editions. It may be time for India to reassess their leadership and make the necessary changes to improve their performance in future competitions.

"If the selectors decide to change, I would go for a young captain," Raj told PTI. "This is the time [to change]; if you delay more then we have another [ODI] World Cup on the horizon [October 2025]. If you are not doing it now, then don't do it later. Then it is too close to the World Cup.

"Smriti [Mandhana, the vice-captain since 2016] is there but I think someone like Jemimah Rodrigues, she's 24, she's young, she will serve you more. And [she] is someone who I feel on the field gets that energy. She speaks to everybody. I was very impressed by her in this tournament.

"Despite playing those cameo roles, she never could convert her starts, but [she is] someone who really made an effort to build a momentum if there was no momentum; and if there was momentum, she tried to carry that momentum forward."

Mithali emphasized that India's lack of quick adaptation was the primary reason for their underwhelming performance. Unlike Australia and New Zealand, who had the opportunity to play against each other, or South Africa, who arranged a last-minute tour to Pakistan, India entered the tournament after two months of training camps and match simulations in Bengaluru. This lack of flexibility ultimately hindered their ability to compete effectively on the international stage.

"Surprisingly, we took time to adjust to the slowness of the wicket," Raj said. "Unlike an ODI World Cup, it is a short tournament, you don't have a lot of time to adjust to the conditions. Someone like New Zealand captain Sophie Devine was able to score that many runs [57 not out] against us and she is not used to playing on slow tracks. We were not quick enough to adjust."

Upon reflection, Raj expressed disappointment in the lack of progress exhibited by the Indian team over the past three years. She observed that the team seemed to have settled for victories against lower-ranked opponents, but struggled when faced with formidable opponents such as Australia. Raj believed that India needed to focus on enhancing their performance against top-tier teams in order to achieve greater success on the international stage.

"I feel that in the last two-three years, I've not really seen any growth in this team. In the sense, like, I mean, beating the best side is what you always prepare for, but it seems like we are saturated in the sense we are beating other teams, and we are pretty happy in that. Every other team has shown growth despite limited depth, a case in point being South Africa. We have not."

Mitali expressed concern regarding the fitness levels of certain players, attributing their dropped catches to this issue. During the match against Australia, India missed three catches and potentially could have capitalized on two additional half-chances.

"Against Australia, I was very disappointed to see, other than Radha Yadav and Jemi to some extent, I don't think there was anybody," she said. "So we cannot have just two players out of 11 being good.

"In terms of fitness, we need to have a benchmark. Honestly, how much can you work in a month? It's something that you do around the year. It's not like just before the tournament, you have a camp and it's just going to really show the difference on the field," said Raj.

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