India entered the 12-team tournament with their top form as a concern, but Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma allayed those fears.
Mandhana has scored 159 runs in three matches, while Shafali has contributed 92, both batsmen have scored more than 154 and are off to a fast start.
However, the inability of the central system to build on those platforms has emerged as a new concern for group managers.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (SR 109.09), Jemimah Rodrigues (94.11) and Yastika Bhatia (105.88) have not been able to keep up with the power provided by the openers, and their failure to run consistently has left much to the likes of Richa Ghosh and Deepti Sharma.
After playing three matches each, Kaur and Rodrigues have managed just 11 boundaries without hitting a single six. Yastika, so far, has hit just four fours in two innings, figures that will worry the Indian camp heading into the tournament.
On their part, Richa (176.92) and Deepti (159.37) have responded well to the challenge, but arriving late in the innings and having little delivery experience has added to the pressure on the duo.
Despite their limited batting, India (4 points in 3 matches, Net Run Rate of 2,511) is reaping the benefits of winning by huge margins – by 64 runs against Pakistan and by 95 runs against the Netherlands – as they look to retain second place in Group A.
