Former Indian women’s cricketer Anjum Chopra has lashed out at the Harmanpreet Kaur-led team for losing to Sri Lanka in the 2024 Asia Cup final. She said it was a good wake-up call for the team ahead of the 2024 T20 World Cup, which will be played later this year.

The Indian National Women’s Cricket Team had a tough outing in the final of the Asia Cup 2024. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led team looked clueless with bat and ball in the summit clash as the Sri Lanka National Women’s Cricket Team crushed them and won their maiden title.

In a couple of months, the Indian women’s team will be playing in the 2024 T20 World Cup. However, the defeat in the Asia Cup final has raised many eyebrows. The Women in Blue have also come under serious criticism after their poor performances in the final against the Sri Lanka National Women’s Cricket Team.

Harmanpreet Kaur-led side have also struggled to get going in the last few series. They lost to England and Australia and going into the World Cup, they will not have it easy as other teams have been sensational in the shortest format of the game.

Anjum Chopra, speaking about India Women’s Asia Cup final defeat, stated that if they had won the tournament they would have been on top. But according to her, losing the final was a good wake-up call for her. She highlighted how India was challenged in the final and lost. Speaking to PTI, she explained:

“Even if they had won this Asian Cup, they would have said ‘oh, we are a better team’. But because they didn’t, they got a wake-up call and I hope it’s a wake-up call. Not in a bad way, but in a good way.

“They didn’t face any challenges and when they did, everything went their way. They didn’t have to try too hard to come out on top. When Sri Lanka challenged them, especially after winning against Pakistan (in the semi-final), they were a team at their best.”

We lost 2-1 to England. We lost 2-1 to Australia – Anjum Chopra on Indian women’s team

Anjum Chopra further spoke about how women in India have been struggling to get ahead lately. She stressed that they have been filling in those gaps and need to set things right. She explained:

“We lost 2-1 to England. We lost 2-1 to Australia. South Africa was our main challenge. When we go to the Asia Cup, there are other teams who challenge us as well. Sri Lanka didn’t even qualify for the 2022 World Cup in New Zealand because they didn’t have cricket for two and a half years due to COVID-19. But look where they are now.”

“Has our team shown that kind of progress and improvement? Yes, to a certain extent. But are we still filling those gaps so as not to allow defeat? The reason we lost the Asian Cup final (was) because we are not filling those gaps yet. Some decisions are not favourable. Some resources we have at our disposal are not favourable. We have to make do with what we have, which is probably not quite ready at the moment to become world leaders,” he concluded.