India have lost 15 wickets to left-arm spinners in four games in the ongoing World Cup ©Getty At the end of her 90-minute batting session in the just-inaugurated indoor nets at the Holkar Stadium in Indore, Jemimah Rodrigues walked out to the main ground, more than half of which was entirely under the covers following a sudden drizzle on Friday evening. With a throwdown specialist in tow, she headed straight into the open nets at India’s allotted practice pitches in one corner. The mini session far exceeded the original ask she made for about 10 deliveries, her focus solely on sweeps with right as well as left-handed throwdowns requested from half a pitch. Three of her four dismissals in World Cup 2025 have been to left-arm spinners – on two occasions for a duck, two while attempting the conventional sweep which is usually her get-out-of-jail-free card against slower bowlers. The intense practice symbolised not just her personal fight for form, but also the broader vulnerability the team on the whole is facing in this World Cup. For close to an hour before that in the indoor facility, the batting pair of Pratika Rawal and Harleen Deol faced the team’s spinners – left-armers Radha Yadav and Sree Charani among them – in one-over rotations. Rawal was dismissed twice attempting the sweep to the two offspinners. Struggling for runs in the competition, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Rodrigues then crossed over to the spinners’ net, after facing the pace trio earlier in the parallel net, in a high-intensity match-simulation session. When vice-captain Smriti Mandhana eventually padded up after the other four of India’s top-five were done with extended stints, she faced both left-arm spin and off-spin – a recent weakness and a negative match-up – from the net bowlers, alongside pace. She, although, looked fairly at ease against the spinners, occasionally lofting them down the ground authoritatively. A troubling pattern has emerged in India’s shaky first-half of the home World Cup, turning the spotlight onto their preparation for and handling of spin ahead of their crucial game against England in the city. India have lost 18 wickets to spinners in their four outings thus far, 15 of them alarmingly to left-arm spinners which is the highest among all eight participating teams by a fair margin. Oppositions have done their homework well given India have also faced the most overs of left-arm spin – 408 balls, i.e 15 overs more than England’s 318 – leading to frequent top-order meltdowns. In Guwahati, Inoka Ranaweera’s triple-wicket over was the cause of India’s top-order collapse in the tournament opener. Pakistan’s Sadia Iqbal and Nashra Sandhu combined to take three in Colombo, triggering another similar breakdown at the top. In Vizag, at the start of a vital two-game leg, India’s new-found weakness was exploited to the hilt by South Africa. Between the 20 overs of left-arm spin from Chloe Tryon (3/32) and Nonkululeko Mlaba (2 for 46), India lost five wickets – four of them among the top-five – to slip to 100/5 inside 25 overs, their third batting failure in as many games before an epic Richa Ghosh rescue. Even though there was a marked improvement in batting intent against Australia, Sophie Molineux picked up two of India’s top-three in her 3/75 in what was India’s first high-scoring innings batting first. In fact, it is a dismissal trend stretching back to the start of the 2024-25 home season papered over only by the sheer bulk of runs the in-form line-up was scoring consistently. While the New Zealand home series and Australia tour in the last quarter of 2024 saw only a wicket each to the left-arm spinner, across the three-ODI rubber, the numbers started to swell once West Indies arrived. Even in her record-breaking run with the bat, left-handed Mandhana has been dismissed to left-arm spinners seven times despite the match-up being in her favour. India’s top-8 vs left-arm spin (since WI series in Dec 2024) Player Runs BF Dismissals Ave SR Dot% Bnd% Pratika Rawal 125 177 8 15.62 70.62 51 5.08 Smriti Mandhana 116 129 7 16.57 89.92 43.2 10.07 Harleen Deol 193 257 7 27.57 75.09 52.4 7.78 Harmanpreet Kaur 149 166 6 24.83 89.75 50 10.24 Deepti Sharma 100 105 1 100 95.23 26.4 6.66 Jemimah Rodrigues 187 177 6 31.16 105.64 44.9 13.55 Richa Ghosh 118 88 3 39.33 134.09 35.5 21.59 Amanjot Kaur 59 87 2 29.5 67.81 53.4 5.74 In this World Cup alone, all of India’s top-five have been sent back by left-arm spinners twice at least, with Rodrigues and Deol’s count reading one more than the other three. Among them, only Mandhana has scored more than run-a-ball (SR 152.38). The reason behind Rodrigues’ persistence with the sweep, despite it having brought her downfall recently, stems from immense success she’s seen in the past. Between her debut and her maiden ODI World Cup, Rodrigues aggregated 246 runs at 49.20 while striking at 143.02 when playing the sweep shots against spin. Against left-arm orthodox, she totalled 57 off 36 with just one dismissal and a strike-rate of 158.33 while at it. Rodrigues isn’t the only one to have benefited while deploying the sweep stroke among India batters in recent times. Deepti Sharma and Ghosh, who have had a fair success against left-arm spinners compared to others, have also used it to great effect. Deepti’s success especially has much to do with the fact that she’s also the only other left-hander in India’s top-eight. A compulsive sweeper, in fact, Deepti has been doing so once every three balls to left-arm spinners alone since the West Indies series at home, Rodrigues every five balls and Ghosh once every over. For contrast, Mandhana pulls out the sweep only once in 15 balls on an average, relying more on her footwork instead. Against England, who have regularly featured both left-arm spinners Sophie Ecclestone and Linsey Smith in their lineup (until an illness to the former in Colombo), India’s this susceptibility is poised to turn into a major sub-plot. Across all four games, England have consistently opened with Smith at one end while Ecclestone has been introduced in the last over of PowerPlay twice in her three appearances. India’s dwindling numbers against bowlers of their ilk will make the pair attacking options early in the innings. Mandhana has already lost her wicket five times to the English pair combined, and Harmanpreet on four occasions. Adding to India’s anxiety, Ecclestone has claimed 42 wickets in 20 ODI innings since the start of 2024 at an average of 13.45 and an economy of 3.34 – both best amongst the 92 bowlers who have sent down at least 50 overs in the period. The world no. 1 has combined figures of 9/60 in her three outings (ER: 2.30), whereas Smith has returned 6/73 in four innings (ER: 3). Together, the two have contributed to England’s phenomenal success with the ball in the tournament – their economy, strike-rate, average and boundary percentage the least among all eight bowling attacks, while their dot-ball percentage is the highest. Team-wise bowling numbers at Women’s CWC 2025 Team Mat Balls Runs Wkts Ave Econ SR Dot% Bnd% England 4 736 437 30 14.56 3.56 24.5 69.5 6.79 Australia 4 1072 844 37 22.81 4.72 28.9 61.3 10.16 Pakistan 4 973 720 30 24 4.43 32.4 62.2 9.04 India 4 1119 946 32 29.56 5.07 34.9 55.7 10.81 New Zealand 4 1081 927 30 30.9 5.14 36 56.9 10.54 South Africa 5 1091 876 28 31.28 4.81 38.9 60.4 9.44 Bangladesh 5 1254 970 28 34.64 4.64 44.7 57.8 9.64 Sri Lanka 4 671 638 16 39.87 5.7 41.9 44.8 9.53 Left-arm spinners overall have been the most impactful breed in the competition so far, comfortably topping the averages (19.38), strike-rates (28.1) and economy (4.13). Captains have even been tempted to bowl two in tandem regardless of the matchups, and to a great effect. It’s likely a tactic England will employ too at some point, come Sunday, for India’s susceptibility is beyond just being an Achilles’ heel – it’s costing points. As things stand, India’s semifinal hopes have taken a hit with two straight defeats in Vizag. Should they suffer another batting stutter, the flaw that was once a crack could well shatter a campaign that began with dreams of glory. *all stats until Match 18: SL-W vs SA-W ShareTweet
