India's roulette No. 3 finally lands with Harmanpreet Kaur

No. 3 for India since the 2023 T20 World Cup

However, in the conditions in which India constantly played in preparation for a sub-continental World Cup, Rodrigues proved to be a better option further down the rankings at number five, with her ability to easily manipulate gaps and keep the scoreboard ticking against spin . Therefore, Rodrigues' last appearance at the age of three was during the back-to-back home series against England and Australia in the winter of 2023/24, when Muzumdar had just taken charge.

Rodrigues missed the next international assignment – a five-match T20I series in Bangladesh, where the World Cup was originally scheduled – due to a bad back, giving him the opportunity to explore new options in three appearances. Yastika Bhatia earned the role after her second consecutive 200-plus WPL season as Mumbai Indians' opener. With her being a left-hander giving her an added advantage, Bhatia was immediately called into the starting XI and justified the move with a brisk 36 on India's return. Fortunately, however, a knee injury meant an early return from Bangladesh, requiring four months of rehab in order to be back in time for the 2024 World Cup squad.

For the rest of this series, D. Hemalatha stepped up – another player who secured a national recall with a groundbreaking WPL 2024. Hemalatha picked up where she left in the WPL, scoring 109 runs in four innings at an average of 36.33 and a much-improved strike rate of 141.55, which was the best of any batsman from either team despite the typical Sylhet conditions .

On a much better T20 batting track in Chennai in the South Africa series, Hemalatha scored a 17-ball 14 in the opening game and was ruled out for the rest of the series, mainly due to concerns about the team combination caused by a concussion to the wicketkeeper were caused on the front line. Finisher Richa Ghosh. India's comeback in the second game came to nothing and the openers made up for the low target on their own in the third game, so it was never clear who could have hit a one-down in that case.

In the precious few games before the World Cup, at the 2024 Asia Cup, India tried out alongside Hemalatha S. Sajana and Uma Chetry without ever seeming to have made their choice. Bhatia's expected return threw another candidate back into the game while Rodrigues settled into her new role as India's new No.1. 5 with impressive returns to boot.

Rodrigues at No. 3 against No. 5 in all T20s

The five intra-team games immediately prior to the team's departure to the United Arab Emirates resulted in the team management shifting their focus from team leadership to the captain.

Harmanpreet had worn many roles in this Indian cast. She has even opened the batting line-up in a T20 World Cup, scoring a career-best 77 at the time. She started her international career as number 8 and went on to play 116 T20Is at number 1. 4 and has made the position her own. Nine of her 12 fifties for India came from this position and no batsman in the world has scored more than Harmanpreet's 2474 runs in T20Is, which is four.

She doesn't necessarily start with a bang like, say, England No.3 Alice Capsey, but Harmanpreet is one of the best in this Indian line-up when it comes to exploiting spinners. And once established, its power is unmatched. On the slow and exciting pitches of Dubai and Sharjah, that is the experience and potential that India wants to capitalize on by giving them a little more time to embrace it.

“Not just the warm-up games, but we had already decided in India, in the training camps that were held before we left for the World Cup,” Muzumdar said on Thursday ahead of India's tournament opener against New Zealand. “We had a nice camp in Bangalore [and] We made our own decision. And these games before the World Cup absolutely shaped this decision for us.”

The jury is now out on whether the timing is right. It's not that Harmanpreet hasn't sporadically suffered a one-down before, but a drastic change like this on the cusp of a high-stakes contest seems similar to the mistakes of the 2018 World Cup, where a step in the right direction was not supported Methodically, giving the player enough time to get used to the new role.

Harmanpreet's vast experience – she is the most capped T20I player in the world across gender – as well as consistent performances in the intra-squad games outside the limelight at the Just Cricket Academy in Bengaluru will come to her aid, or so Muzumdar has hinted.

Harmanpreet will be expected to draw on that experience in more than just batting as she prepares to turn her arm around once again after giving her all-round abilities a break in the last 43 T20Is of this half. The signs of this were evident in their narrow failure in the last warm-up game against South Africa. It goes without saying that the return of Harmanpreet, the offspinner, also solves a major bowling conundrum for India – the sixth four-over frontline bowling option in their top order, whose shortage was last seen in the surprise Asia Cup The defeat against Sri Lanka was felt in their last competitive game before the World Cup.

“To be completely honest, we were thinking of a completely different combination. That’s five batters, a wicketkeeper who I consider an all-rounder and then three.” [bowling] All-rounder and then two [pure] Bowler. We tried a few things and we ended up with 5-5 and a wicketkeeper [settled on].

“We have paid a lot of attention to the sixth bowling option. Also because of the fact that we have had several discussions in our top six that at least three to four have to bowl. And whether we get these overs out.” then nothing comparable. And all of them [India’s top-six] could bowl. So it's just a matter of applying, putting hard yards in the nets and converting that into a match performance. Yes, Harman hasn't bowled much lately [besides] in the second warm-up but she has enough experience to bowl these overs [in a World Cup].”