India focus on lineup for semis

Having drawn Australia in semis, the co-hosts still appear to be deciding on their best side

- Rutvick Mehta [e-mail]

In this roller-coaster home World Cup ride for the Indian women’s team, it seems quite a while ago that Amanjot Kaur dropped this line after her rescue act in the opening win over Sri Lanka: “You can’t say that India was in trouble, I was yet to bat.” Four matches later, she found herself dropped from the playing XI.

It wasn't that long ago that Jemimah Rodrigues, who lifted India’s total to 340 with an unbeaten 76 batting at No.3 in the penultimate league game, was sidelined to the bench a match before.

Ithas been a rather puzzling, almost paradoxical, campaign for Harmanpreet Kaur's side so far. They suffered three straight defeats, and yet are into the knockouts with a game to go after a critical win over New Zealand. They have deployed just 12 players from the squad in the six matches so far, and yet appear a bit unsure about their ideal 11.

That's where the match against Bangladesh at the DY Patil Stadium here on Sunday, albeit inconsequential, assumes significance for India. This low-pressure final league game, after four high stakes battles against testing opponents, will provide an opportunity for the co-hosts to identify and lock in their best combination.