Could World Cup 2021 break India's jinx at ICC tournaments?

While the whole country is being under a lockdown owing to the coronavirus outbreak and sports coming to a virtual standstill, a breather of good news came for cricket lovers on Wednesday as the Indian women’s team qualified for the ICC World Cup 2021 that will be hosted by New Zealand. The mounting tension on India being directly qualifying for the World Cup being now resolved, it will be the right time for the team to break the jinx of getting knocked out consecutively at ICC tournaments. While both India teams have performed well at all the ICC tournaments in recent times, they continue to fail at the cusp of adding to their major trophy cabinet. However, the biggest talking point surrounding the defeat was the unceremonious dropping of senior-most player Mithali Raj for the clash – a decision which eventually exposed a series of rifts within the Indian team management. Despite earning a sensational victory over hosts Australia in the opening game of the group stage, India were put under the pump from the very 1st ball of the final when Alyssa Healy smashed a full-toss from Deepti Sharma across the long-on boundary. Chasing an imposing 185 to win, India never really looked settled after losing explosive opener Shafali Verma on the 3rd ball of their pursuit. Megan Schutt picked 4 wickets to bundle India out for 99 leading to raucous celebrations from Meg Lanning’s team. With the qualification at the 2021 World Cup, and return of the veteran players like Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami will definitely add the experience to the side. Despite having a heavily armoured batting line up, India should focus on not to crumble under pressure at knockouts and strengthen their bowling attack which is heavily-reliant on spinners, with a reminder that New Zealand doesn’t have spin-friendly conditions. Indian Women's Cricket Team will look to enter the semifinals unbeaten with win against Sri Lanka(Image: Twitter)