Sunil Gavaskar questions Team India’s selection after Women’s T20 World Cup exit

Team India women’s suffered a humiliating defeat against Australia in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026. The defeat knocked them out of the tournament. After the defeat, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the Women’s side squad for the upcoming Asian Games 2026.

India’s squad for the 2026 Asian Games: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (Vice-Captain), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (WK), G. Kamalini (WK), Bharti Fulmali, Sree Charani, Renuka Thakur, Kranti Gaud, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil (subject to fitness), Radha Yadav, Nandni Sharma.

Sunil Gavaskar points to costly fielding errors behind India’s early exit

However, Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar said India’s defeat to South Africa had almost ended their chances of staying in the Women’s T20 World Cup.

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“The Indian women losing to Australia wasn’t a big surprise, but it didn’t make the day any better (with India’s men’s team losing to Ireland). They should have beaten South Africa, but so abysmal was their fielding against them that they lost from a good position and were virtually out of the tournament with that loss.“

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Sunil Gavaskar questions Team selection and field placements after India’s early exit

“It’s tough to comment from this distance, but the question that most cricket lovers would ask is: did we play all fit players, or were there some who weren’t 100%? Playing a player who isn’t fully fit is understandable if that player is an impact player capable of delivering, even if not fully fit. Otherwise, it suggests that the reserve players are not good enough to take the injured player’s place. Hopefully, I am completely wrong, but to see players playing with bandaged fingers does give the impression that they are carrying an injury, even if it may be a minor one,” he added.

“The other aspect that was noticeable is that, despite the 50-over win and the other matches where runs against the spinners were regularly taken over extra cover, there was no attempt to cover that gap with a fielder and make the batters attempt lofted shots with an open face of the bat,” Gavaskar concluded.

Also Read: BCCI announces India’s women’s squad for Asian Games 2026; Harmanpreet Kaur to lead