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Seven hundred and eighty-one runs. This was the mammoth match aggregate India and Australia amassed in the final ODI of the recent three-match series in New Delhi. What started as an innocuous decider quickly became one of the best one-day internationals in the history of the women’s game, with multiple records hacked away along the way.
Those with a theatrical vein will appreciate the timing of this match. How often does one get to see the most dominant side in the sport walking around red-faced, lost for answers? Less than a fortnight away from a World Cup to be staged in the same country, this fixture earned the potential to single-handedly become the tournament’s biggest endorsement.
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Come a long way
Change is the only constant. As bumper-stickery as this adage sounds, it has been the tagline for the ODI format for much of the last decade. “There has been a shift in the sense that the numbers are going up, the average scores have gone up, and the way they’re going about the entire format is different now,” W.V. Raman, former head coach of the Indian women’s national team, tells Sportstar.
“A lot of spinners have come into the fray, and batters quite obviously are looking to step up the runs, looking to play this game at a much faster pace. The influence of T20s has seeped into the 50-over format too, which is an entertaining turn for the format,” he adds.
Former India Women’s team head coach W.V. Raman says professionalism and higher competitive standards have changed how teams approach the changing pace of ODI cricket for the good.
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AFP
Former India Women’s team head coach W.V. Raman says professionalism and higher competitive standards have changed how teams approach the changing pace of ODI cricket for the good.
| Photo Credit:
AFP
Raman was around the unit when India was still figuring out its T20 character. He remembers a persistent lack of confidence and fear of failure within the setup, which has finally been discarded.
“ODIs were a comfort zone because they provided an opportunity for everybody to play themselves in. Until the mushrooming of T20 leagues, the girls found the format quite taxing. There were a lot of inhibitions about not being able to keep up with the pace of the format and being unable to score at the pace we’ve come to see as normal in the men’s game. But with time, 200 scores are getting common in T20s, and that’s also changed the way ODIs are being approached,” he explains.
There have been 66 instances of 300+ totals in women’s ODIs since 2013 — the last time India hosted the 50-over showpiece. Of those, 36 have come after the 2022 World Cup. India has managed nine of its 13 scores of 300 or more in just the last two years, a shift the think tank has acknowledged as a priority.
Towards that end, picking horses for courses is one approach. And then there are some who tune themselves to the demands of the course, like Ellyse Perry, who completely changed her game to keep up with the flashy requirements of T20s. An undeniable addition to that club is her Royal Challengers Bengaluru teammate Smriti Mandhana.
Elegance — an adjective almost synonymous with her — often bears the burden of slowness. Smriti’s tendency to take her time to get going was a tad too relaxed for the era the game was stomping into. She had to turn from a gentle breeze to a tornado, a change half mandated by Shafali Verma’s axing from the side.
The result? Smriti has the most runs in the format (2100) since the 2022 World Cup. Of the 15 centuries India has scored in this cycle, eight have come from her bat.
Lisa Sthalekar believes the biggest change in approach in Women’s ODIs has come in how teams tackle the PowerPlay.
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Getty Images
Lisa Sthalekar believes the biggest change in approach in Women’s ODIs has come in how teams tackle the PowerPlay.
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Getty Images
Raman believes this evolution epitomises the transformation of the format itself. “It’s a clear example of how a player can play this game for a decade and a half and suddenly discover herself and do deeds that were considered impossible.”
Lisa Sthalekar, winner of the 2013 edition with Australia, attributes this to a fresh outlook on the PowerPlay — yet another gift of the T20 era.
“If you rewind maybe even 10 years ago, the mantra was to survive the PowerPlay, keep wickets in hand, and then slowly you can build and cash in at the end. I heard Beth Mooney and Kim Garth say that the third ODI felt like T20 cricket for 100 overs. That’s how they were playing it as well,” she tells Sportstar.
Cover all bases
What also helps is an increasing homogenisation of wickets around the world.
“If you’re not familiar with the background in a particular venue and switch the television on and look at a strip, you won’t potentially know where the game is played. The character of the pitch is more or less standardised, as the ICC says,” Raman notes.
From the album: Rachael Heyhoe Flint, captain of host England in the inaugural Women’s World Cup in 1973, with the participating teams outside 10 Downing Street, London.
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Getty Images
From the album: Rachael Heyhoe Flint, captain of host England in the inaugural Women’s World Cup in 1973, with the participating teams outside 10 Downing Street, London.
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Getty Images
Sthalekar also brushes off conjectures of predominantly spin-friendly conditions in the subcontinent. “I don’t think India is creating those dust bowls anymore. I think they’re creating opportunities for fast bowlers,” she underlines. “The pitches are providing a little bit more pace, good carry, which is effective. The theory that Indian pitches are dust bowls is coming from people who may have looked at the game 10 years ago.”
This transition has bloomed along with the demands of the game. A potent pace pool was earmarked as top of the Indian wishlist, right from Raman’s time through to when Amol Muzumdar took charge of the setup.
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The Jhulan Goswami-sized gap (post her retirement) triggered a panic to find the next pace-bowling sensation. Several players have entered the musical chairs for the role, but injury (think Pooja Vastrakar), lack of faith from management (Shikha Pandey), or gaps in skill mean India doesn’t have the ideal candidate yet. While still a work in progress, focused national camps and the seam demands created by the Women’s Premier League have helped India advance down this path.
While India works on its teething troubles in pace, the rest of the world has attempted to catch up in the spin-bowling game. England, whose bowling annals boast ruthless seamers like Katherine Sciver-Brunt and Anya Shrubsole, comes into this World Cup with a top-notch spin quartet. Australia has always been ahead of the curve, carrying quality tweakers who thrive in subcontinent conditions. Spin still keeps India ahead, even if barely, with Deepti Sharma leading the bowlers’ chart for this cycle with 59 scalps.
India has made the final of the Women’s ODI showpiece twice, both under Mithali Raj’s captain. Once in 2005 (in pic) and then in 2017.
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India has made the final of the Women’s ODI showpiece twice, both under Mithali Raj’s captain. Once in 2005 (in pic) and then in 2017.
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What India will draw confidence from is the healthy crop of youngsters making their opportunities count.
In pacer Kranti Goud and spinner N. Shree Charani, the WPL has gifted the national team two adaptable, spunky players who are happy to take aggression to the opponent. That India has chosen to take a punt on them, like it has with Pratika Rawal at the top of the order at the expense of Shafali, signals a welcome change in perspective.
“Thank God for that,” Raman chuckles. “It’s not always about how long you’ve been playing this game. It’s good that they are not really taking decisions based on a predetermined stance and they are looking at who are the ones who are likely to serve a team well in a competition or even in a bilateral series. That’s the way it has to be done.”
Big picture
Fifty-two years ago, women’s cricket took shape through the one-day format. Unlike the men’s game, where Test cricket occupies the peak of the cricketing Maslow’s pyramid, ODIs are the zenith for the women. “We don’t have anything close to a World Test Championship,” Sthalekar exclaims. International red-ball cricket is restricted to four teams — Australia, England, India, and South Africa — with only the first two playing the format regularly, courtesy of the Ashes.
“Unless a higher aspiration presents itself, ODIs will be the peak,” she adds.
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While trends will come and go and the T20 format will continue to push its influence on others in the women’s game, ODIs are the lifeline because of everything they bring along. Funding and stability of fixtures under the Future Tours Programme are cushions that teams outside the top tier — men or women — desperately need. This, however, doesn’t erase the reality that the financial capabilities of boards still dictate how competitive teams can be, and that conversation isn’t happening on the most basic of levels.
Ultimate champion: Australian players celebrate their title win in the 2022 edition. They have won the title seven times.
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Getty Images
Ultimate champion: Australian players celebrate their title win in the 2022 edition. They have won the title seven times.
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Getty Images
Sthalekar urges patience and persistence in investment across the board.
“T20s may be the driving vehicle, but why not add ODI fixtures when on bilateral tours? ICC is figuring out plans for that second tier. It’s a hard issue because not all the boards can afford to create optimum opportunities. There’s only so much money that they have to split up to go to the men’s, the women’s, grassroots, and so forth. That said, it is important, even at a state level, to keep exposing those players to the longer format, because it will allow players to understand how to build an innings, how to bowl in a spell, how to bowl in partnerships, how to set up a batter, not just hope the batter mishits it and you’ve got the fielders in the right position.”
The 2029 edition of the Women’s ODI World Cup is set to feature 10 teams. The competitive nature of the qualifiers over the last few years, across both white-ball formats, means exciting things for the ecosystem. Increasing viewership and following also means the vertical is now being treated as a business, which brings with it its own positives.
“There is an incentive to evolve. The approach of ‘safety first, results later’ doesn’t fly with the generations coming into the game now. Those governing the game are viewing it as a business. It’s no longer about 10-year or 15-year plans. Vision for the sport needs to evolve every few years, and the ecosystem has woken up to that reality,” Raman says.
Published on Sep 27, 2025
