Australia focus on spin, India hope for Harmanpreet to hit white-ball form

"Sorry guys!" shouted Grace Harris. Not once but twice in succession.

It was towards the end of her 40-minute batting session at the nets set up adjacent to the centre wicket. Throughout her stint, the focus was on hitting the big shots and clearing the LED advertising boards. She barely played a defensive shot. And, twice in a row, she thwacked the left-arm spin throwdown from Australia head coach Shelley Nitschke over cow corner, her apologies being directed towards the staff in that region readying the venue for the women's T20I series between India and Australia.

Harris was not part of the one-off Test or the ODIs that preceded this series. She arrived in India only last week and had practiced her big hits at the Wankhede Stadium while the rest of the group trained for the third ODI. Now, at the nets session, she batted like a beast waiting to be unleashed. Not all her shots were middled, though. She moved around the crease in the net where Ashleigh Gardner and Jess Jonassen bowled in tandem, with the latter often winning the battle by having her miss or mistime a lot.

Most of her stint was - and most of the Australia batters were - focused on facing spin. India have a plethora of the type to choose from - Deepti Sharma, Shreyanka Patil, Minnu Mani and Kanika Ahuja of the offspin variety, and the left-arm spin of Saika Ishaque and Mannat Kashyap. Patil, Deepti and Ishaque were used throughout the T20I series against England and they took 12 of the 22 wickets India picked up.

On the eve of their series-opener, Australia's batters were helped in their spin simulation by analyst Sunny Kaliyar and psychologist Peter Clarke, who provided the right-arm variety, while Nitschke, assistant coach Dan Marsh and selector Shawn Flegler helped with left-arm throwdowns.

"We are lucky that we have got a lot of coaches that throw a lot of offspin to us," legspinning allrounder Georgia Wareham said ahead of Australia's nets session. "Given we have got a lot of left-handed batters as well, it is key for them to be able to practice a lot of offspin. We are lucky to have a bit of everything when it comes to training. We can be ready for game day facing offspin.

"Even with the ball, this [tour] over here in India has been really good practice in a lot of different conditions we don't quite get at home. Everyone has taken bits and pieces out of the games we have played, which is been exciting. It is really cool that in the team we have got a bit of everything, given everyone can spin in different ways, gives Midge [captain Alyssa Healy] a lot of variety out there in the middle."

Over at the India nets, the big hits were provided by the usual suspects in Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh and Kanika Ahuja, with Smriti Mandhana also connecting with heaves across the line against the net bowlers. What India do with their lower-middle order in the T20Is will be interesting. In the ODIs, they had pushed Ghosh up to No. 3, which left a big hole in the finisher's spot.

The main spotlight, though, will be on captain Harmanpreet Kaur. After the T20 World Cup in South Africa last year, she has not got into double digits in four of seven innings in the format. Add ODIs to the mix, and the number swells to eight scores of under ten in 14 white-ball outings since July 2023. She did look in good touch in the twin forties in the one-off Test against England in Navi Mumbai, but that's been about it.

But if her form is bothering her, it did not show. She arrived at and left the press conference room with a lot of smiles. During the media interaction she said: "I have been getting the starts but unable to convert it into a big innings. Sometimes luck plays a part. I have been getting out in very weird ways on a couple of occasions - I don't think I have played a wrong shot nor were they very good balls [that got me]. I am trying my level best to train and bat well, so that I don't feel I am out of form or not batting well.

"I batted in the nets even this morning, so that I get more confidence. I am trying whatever is in my hands. My focus is to do well and next three games are important."

In India's training session under lights, she batted the longest. She faced fast bowlers Renuka Singh, Pooja Vastrakar and Titas Sadhu, and the spin of Ishaque and Patil, apart from a few net bowlers. The first few minutes of the close-to-30-minute stint were spent trying delicate dabs and drives. After a while, she danced down the track and brought out the big shots.

Australia always strive "to be ruthless" every time they walk out, in Wareham's words. "When we are on top, we like to keep doing that and not let it slip." India's path to ruthlessness could perhaps be via more power in the lower order, through the likes of Ghosh and Ahuja. Or simply by Harmanpreet returning to form.

Before she took her batting gear off, Harmanpreet sent a few soaring beyond the LED ad-boards towards the sight screen. There was no one lurking there for her to apologise to. If her team start winning again in white-ball cricket, she won't be apologising for that either.