India captain Harmanpreet Kaur with teammates. (PTI photo) THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: India women swept Sri Lanka 4-0 with the team’s authority several rungs above their opponents. Proceedings flowed freely, goals fell on demand and results were rarely in doubt. Yet, amid the avalanches and flurries of goals, a familiar gremlin kept tugging at the edge of a dominant campaign: the field.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SIGN UP NOW!Head coach Amol Muzumdar will look at this series where India controlled the big moments but fumbled in the basics.
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In terms of results, India will head into the final match of the series in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday, where there will be plenty of fine-tuning before bigger challenges emerge. Mistakes on the pitch weren’t half chances or acrobatic near misses. They were the kind that would make the coaches wince. In one telling moment in the 4th T20, a mistimed swing lifted off the stumps and floated gently towards long-on. Smriti Mandhana was perfectly placed. The catch was regulation. And yet it went down.If it seemed like an aberration, Deepti Sharma’s night confirmed that it was not. A full toss on the off stump at shin height lacked timing and was hit straight to her at long on. Deepti went in reverse and spilled it. Worse still, the ball was dribbled for four. What should have been a highlight or a moment that ended with a goal became another footnote of carelessness.
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This was not an isolated incident. India dropped five catches in the series opener in Visakhapatnam alone, three of them outright. Throughout the series, the pattern repeated itself: pure dominance punctuated by sloppy fielding.And yet India’s batting depth and bowling discipline ensured that missed chances did not change the results. This is perhaps the most disturbing part. When mistakes don’t hurt, the urgency tends to disappear.Goalkeeper Richa Ghosh was quick to offer perspective. “We had an off day in the field. It’s understandable, but everyone in this team is working really hard on their fielding practice. I’m not going to say anything about how to field for this one match,” she said after the 4th T20.One game does not define a team. But the series leaves its mark.This Indian side is developing into a formidable unit. The batting is fearless, the bowling still clinical. Which makes the field stand out even sharper. It’s not just sixes and spells that win championships at the highest level; they are secured by latches and sharp earthworks.India may have cruised past Sri Lanka in this series, but stronger opponents will not be so forgiving. With the T20 World Cup barely six months away, this is an area India would be keen to rectify.
