Shivi

🇮🇳 Part time content writer • Harmanpreet Kaur 💙 Elena Rybakina 😇

[Shivi @Harman_stan]

On this day in 2009. 14 years ago. A 19 years old girl from Moga,Punjab debuted as a pacer batting at 9 and the rest as they say is herstory.
From that to being India's best number 4 she has come a long way. My kaptaan kaur.❤
#HarmanpreetKaur

[Shivi @Harman_stan]

@_hypocaust No english player ever?

[Savita Punia @savitahockey]

Our women's hockey team just delivered India's BEST World Cup finish in 52 years — 5th place, beating Germany 3-1. Best result since the historic 4th-place finish at the very first World Cup in 1974. 🏑🇮🇳 This story deserves to be more than a headline. 🧵

[Shivi @Harman_stan]

Never ever work for "Female Cricket".
The employer is unprofessional.
Recently I resigned from my post of content writer. Employer always needed reminders for paying the salary and also they have not paid me my 2 day working fees. On asking has been ignoring messages and mails.

[Cricket Association for the Blind in India (CABI) @blind_cricket]

Harmanpreet Kaur congratulated our World Champion Indian Women’s Blind Cricket Team at the Taj Hotel, Delhi, during the Indian of the Year 2025 celebrations. A proud moment for all of us!

[Shivi @Harman_stan]

@NalinisKitchen I get it for Rs 360/Kg

[Shivi @Harman_stan]

@GemsOfCrickets What poor mindset.
Your dumba&& has not seen Perry winning the WC with a broken foot or Harman scoring 171* with a shoulder sprain.

[Shivi @Harman_stan]

@AsliBCCIWomen
Asli ji baarish rukne ki koi umeed?

[Shivi @Harman_stan]

Guys. Men's team took their 19 Nov'23 badla in the T20 WC as well as in the Champions Trophy. This semi final win has nothing to do with men's cricket.

#INDvAUS #CWC25

[BCCI Women @BCCIWomen]

Player of the match ✅
Fielder of the match ✅

🎥 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐁𝐓𝐒 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐉𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐡 𝐑𝐨𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬 celebrating unseen moments and team spirit 💙

Get your #CWC25 tickets 🎟 now: https://t.co/vGzkkgwXt4

#WomenInBlue | #INDvAUS | @JemiRodrigues

[Shivi @Harman_stan]

@okh373056 No. She is not.

[Shivi @Harman_stan]

Kranti is bowling way poorly.

[BCCI Women @BCCIWomen]

Motivated. Confident. Full of belief. ✨

Shafali Verma is 𝘽𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙞𝙣 𝘽𝙡𝙪𝙚 🇮🇳

🎥 Hear from the #TeamIndia opener ahead of the semi-final 👌- By @mihirlee_58

Get your #CWC25 tickets 🎟 now: https://t.co/vGzkkgwXt4

#WomenInBlue | #INDvAUS | @TheShafaliVerma

[ICC @ICC]

A new record crowd of 25,166 turned up in Navi Mumbai - the highest-ever attendance for a group-stage fixture at any ICC Women’s event 🏟️

It surpassed the previous mark of 22,843 set during the India–Sri Lanka #CWC25 opener in Guwahati 👏

[Shivi @Harman_stan]

Wrote 10 pgs essay and mentioned that Mithali Raj was forced to retire.

She was leggit 39. Captained Indian team at 39 at the 2022 WC. Kaha se forced to retire

[Yash Lahoti @YvLahoti]

My thoughts on the current Indian women’s cricket team

A lot of people feel that this is just another case of “close games”...
“Oh, they fought well,”
“Oh, this team is improving,”
“Oh, it’s just Australia being Australia,”
“Oh, Nalindi Club had a fantastic game,”
“Oh, we just choked.”

No.
This is not a one-off.
This is a systematic failure that’s been building over time and it’s showing now.
----

Every time the Indian women’s team underperforms, the same set of (mostly male) journalists rush to say,
“BCCI has given them everything. Money, infrastructure, contracts, exposure. Why can’t they perform?”

That logic is deeply flawed and, frankly, misogynistic.

You cannot compare this structure to the men’s setup.
The men have had elite-level infrastructure and the IPL since 2008; yet they only won a T20 World Cup in 2024.

By that standard, the women’s team hasn’t even received half the systemic investment, coaching, or consistency.
And yet we expect them to win instantly?

Should they be questioned? Of course.
Should accountability exist? Absolutely.
But questioning them with the tone of “we gave you everything, why aren’t you first in class?” is regressive.
That’s not how performance works; in sport, business, or life.

The question should be -
Are we putting the right strategy, systems, and thinking in place for them to actually be No.1?
----

The Real Issue: Structural and Tactical Failure

Let’s look at the pattern.
This isn’t about one match or one bad over.
It’s about how we continue to make the same mistakes - again and again and again.

From administration to selectors to the coaching staff, it’s all connected.
This is a combined effort of tactical stagnation.

We forced Mithali Raj to retire, and Punam Raut was dropped, both for low strike rates.
Yet today, players like Harleen Deol and Priya Rawal are being persisted with despite the same issue.
Where is the tactical consistency?

We fast-tracked Shafali Verma into the senior team; a once-in-a-generation natural striker but gave her no mentoring, no coaching clarity, and then quietly phased her out.
That’s not development. That’s negligence.

And look at the selections.
Playing Harleen Deol and Priya Rawal together is a blunder. They don’t complement each other’s tempo, and they shouldn’t even bat in the same phase.
After 25 overs, if you haven’t lost a wicket, sending Harleen is another tactical failure.
You’ve already burned half your overs and that’s the moment to send Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur, or even Richa Ghosh, not another accumulator.

Even Deepti Sharma’s role has been misused.
Her value comes when she has 12–15 overs left and not when she’s walking in with 4 overs remaining.
That’s not just suboptimal, that’s a fundamental misunderstanding of your player’s strengths.
----

Selection Logic? None.

We played a five-bowler strategy till the last-to-last game.
And when we finally needed a sixth bowling option, what did we do?
We dropped Jemimah Rodrigues! A player showing intent and consistency at No.5 and brought in Renuka Singh Thakur.

So instead of replacing a low-strike-rate batter, we punished the one player who was actually showing proactive intent.
What message does that send?
That it’s safer to make 70 off 100 balls than 40 off 30?
That as long as your name is on the scoreboard, strike rate doesn’t matter?

That’s not strategy. That’s fear-driven selection.

And I’m not even getting into fielding lapses or bowling rotations; those are tactical details.
This is about structural thinking, or the lack of it.
----

Where We Stand
Most fans who follow women’s cricket closely can already tell what the best XI should be.
If thousands of fans watching from their homes can see it, why can’t the captain and coach?

It’s not about talent - there’s no shortage of it.
It’s about clarity, accountability, and evolution.

Right now, the Indian women’s team looks like a side stuck between generations; not because the players aren’t capable, but because the system around them refuses to evolve.
----

This isn’t about one World Cup.
It’s about a pattern. Of repeating mistakes, of ignoring tactical realities, and of not respecting the depth of women’s cricket with the same seriousness we apply to the men’s game.

You can’t win with emotion alone.
You win with systems, strategy, and structure.

Until that changes, this cycle will repeat itself. Every World Cup, every heartbreak, every time.

#WomensCricket #TeamIndia #Cricket #SportsLeadership

P.S.
1. I don’t have any issues with Harleen Deol or Priya Rawal as players. My concern is with their strike rates and with the management’s no-fault-given attitude toward it.

2. I don’t have a personal bias for or against Shafali Verma either.

3. My real issue lies with the selectors and management, for how they’ve sidelined or phased out experienced players like Shikha Pandey without clear reasoning or transition planning.

[Cricinfo @cricinfo]

Do you think India made the right call by leaving Jemimah Rodrigues out?

[Dr. Nithin @medico_28]

Annual contract salary @BCCI #CWC25

[PouLaMi @Crictopher17]

As a dedicated fan, who has stood behind this team for a pretty long time, I want IWCT to be questioned and there should be strong, harsh criticism. There are no two ways about it.
Not counting mysogynistic pricks and trolls. Valid, productive criticism

#CWC2025

[Kalyani Mangale @MangaleKalyani]

No context.
Times of India Exclusive from two days ago via @AraniBasuTOI

#CWC25

[Shivi @Harman_stan]

@YvLahoti Criticism is one thing.
Saying the team should lose is critisim in your books? Funny.

[Kalyani Mangale @MangaleKalyani]

I really want to know what is ‘served on platter’ to the women’s team? They don’t even have home advantage in this World Cup because just like other teams they have not played at these venues in ages. What exactly is being served here? #CWC25