India's Rodrigues decision and the Beth Mooney puzzle

Mooney missed out on the ODI leg of the Women's Ashes at home - also Australia's first round of new Championship games. © Getty

Away from limelight, India began their ICC Women's ODI Championship 2017-20 with dominating performances in South Africa to claim the three-match opening round 2-1 on foreign soil - a rarity. But sterner tests await at home, where the broadcast of their international assignments in now becoming commonplace. They might have momentum on their side, and home advantage, but the sheer quality of the opponent ensures this ain't going to be a walk in the park.

Here are the major talking points ahead of the ODI series:

India

Jemimah Rodrigues vs Championship points

Perhaps, the only thing that stands in Jemimah Rodrigues's way of earning her debut ODI cap are the Championship points at stake in all three games here.

The Indian team is experiencing the joys of a largely settled batting order after a very long time. The openers and those in the middle order pick themselves, which has made it very tough for the abundantly-talented Rodrigues to break into the eleven. She has been earmarked as the flag bearer of the next generation, and most certainly in India's 2021 World Cup plans. Unfortunately though, given the embarrassment of riches in the opening slot, Rodrigues is still warming the bench in ODIs.

Both Smriti Mandhana and Punam Raut have scored heavily in the domestic season before leaving for South Africa. And even though the latter couldn't score as well as she would have liked on tour, in all fairness, dropping her after one bad series would be a knee-jerk reaction - a phase India has moved past. More importantly, they both form a crucial part of that settled core. However, should opportunity present itself, the 17-year-old from Mumbai appears all prepared to grab her chance with both hands.

Rodrigues has had as smooth an initiation into international cricket as one could've asked for. Apart from the tons of runs against the best of Indian bowlers in the domestic circuit, she hit a brisk 37 on debut against a strong South African attack to announce her arrival in style and then slammed a stroke-filled 44 in India's series-clinching win. Despite batting out of her position on both occasions, she's looked at ease in the international arena, which would hold her in good stead should the management decide to hand her a chance at home.

Can Pooja Vastrakar cement her spot?

That India don't have as much variety to pick from in the bowling department is not a secret anymore. Jhulan Goswami is leading the Indian attack even after 15 years of her debut and the recall of a 34-year-old Rumeli Dhar for the South Africa T20Is, in the injury-forced absence of the senior pro, revealed how there's still a lot to be done to build a fast-bowling resource pool. On top of which now, the hosts are without their spearhead in the high-stakes series with Goswami being ruled out for six weeks after sustaining a heel injury in South Africa while Mansi Joshi, who impressed with her pace in the 2017 World Cup, is already undergoing rehab for a knee injury that has kept her out of action since the season began.

These injuries, though, had a silver lining. Pooja Vastrakar has climbed several steps up the pecking order after a rather promising start to her T20I career in South Africa. Vastrakar didn't enjoy a memorable ODI debut but in helpful conditions, she stood out with her outswingers and the ability to bowl economically in the powerplays in T20Is. The Madhya Pradesh all-rounder flew with the Indian contingent as the back-up fast-bowling option and wouldn't have probably got a game had Goswami been fit. But the 18-year-old has made optimum use of the opportunities and, hence, thrown her hat into the ring.

Vastrakar would be aware that she has a senior in Sukanya Parida lurking in the background, ready to reclaim the spot that she was originally handpicked for before injury foiled her chances ahead of the World Cup Qualifiers in February 2017. But if Vastrakar can show the same temperament as she did in South Africa, in (a maximum of) three chances she will get this series, she should be able to stay in the reckoning even after Goswami returns, pushing another senior - Shikha Pandey - for that second pacer's slot.

Dearth of all-rounders

Or should we say dearth of runs from the all-rounders India pack in their line-up?

India's batting, until about a couple of years ago, revolved around their captain Mithali Raj. The emergence of Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Veda Krishnamurthy eased that pressure off to an extent. But unlike most top-quality sides in the circuit, India's runs have come only through the batters for a while now. Cut to Australia now - Ashleigh Gardner slayed the second-string India A side in their tour opener by blasting a 90 not out off just 44 balls, coming in at No. 8.

"Definitely, the bowlers need to bat. That is something I would consider very important. I would want all my bowlers to contribute (with the bat) in the lower-order," Raj had said at the start of the South Africa series, and reiterated at the end of it.

In the times when the demand for multi-faceted players has multiplied, India have very few genuine all-rounders they can rely on. Deepti Sharma, for starters, is one who has given 10 economical overs, if not a lot of wickets, and chipped in with runs on most consistent basis. But Pandey and Goswami, the two senior-most all-rounders in the side, have largely been bowlers first and contributions from their bats have been far and few between, while Vastrakar and wickettkeper-bat Sushma Verma are being wasted down the order. Though the latter might be an illusion - for the bulk of scoring in recent times has been done by the top five - it is hard to miss the lack of depth in India's batting as they prepare to meet the lofty expectations next World Cup, or even the ICC Women's World T20 later this year.

Australia

Meg Lanning is back!

Those four words will ensure the Australians can breathe a collective sigh of relief despite the shock retirement of another senior pro, Alex Blackwell, in the lead up to the series.

Lanning missed Australia's two league games in the World Cup through a shoulder injury that had been troubling her for a while, and was restricted to under-arm throws to minimise the damage. After their semifinal exit, Lanning underwent an operation and was immediately ruled out of action for six straight months, which effectively meant she would miss the multi-format Ashes at home and the third edition of the WBBL. She was due to have a hit-out in Australia's domestic Women's National Cricket League but opted against it at the eleventh hour in order to manage the operated shoulder better. So, before landing in India, Lanning had zilch game-time under her belt since that semifinal evening.

Neither did Lanning get the hang of things in her first competitive game this season - when the tourists took on India A in their first-up at the BKC in Mumbai. But a day later, she shook off the rust after a seven-month lay off with a typical half-century that has given the team management the assurance they needed from their returning skipper. That fifty might have come against a second-string bowling attack but had all the signs of the good ol' Lanning - clean hitting, impeccable timing and ability to switch gears when the situation demands.

However, even if those 63 runs against a weakened line-up are ominous signs for India, Australia would be hoping she can convert that confidence into runs once the main leg gets underway on Monday. The visitors' two warm-ups have been a fruitful exercise with runs coming from all corners, but all eyes would be affixed on their captain who is making international comeback in the high-voltage series, amidst full media glare and with a score to settle against the hosts.

The Beth Mooney puzzle

In the aftermath of the Harmanpreet Kaur assault, that sent them home after the 2017 World Cup semifinals, Australia chalked up a Plan B that saw Mooney being left out in the favour of an extra-all-rounder to beef up their batting and tackle such emergencies better. Mooney's tally of 232 runs in the tournament was ignored and she missed out on the ODI leg of the Women's Ashes at home - also Australia's first round of new Championship games. But since then, Mooney has done more than enough to present an irresistible case for her recall.

In the T20I leg of Ashes, Mooney made a rather bold statement by notching up a 56-ball 86 not out in the opener and then went a step further in Game 3 by registering her first triple-figure mark in the shortest format of the game. She followed it up with 465 runs at an average of 42.27 and strike rate of 143.52 in the 14 games of the WBBL. Mooney then came in at an unusual-for-her No. 3 and staked her claim for an ODI inclusion with a stunning 83-ball 115 in the only warm-up fixture she batted in for Australia since arriving in India. Between that, she also bagged the ICC T20I Player of the Year award.

Those numbers are bound to leave the selectors in a quandary, especially given that none of the others front-line options have put a foot wrong to deserve the axe. There is an opening in the line-up with Tahlia McGrath injured, and this could be Mooney's chance to slot back into the eleven. On her part, she's ready to make a sacrifice on the opening slot if in lieu she gets to don the national colours again.

"There are some world-class players in the side and someone has to miss out," Mooney had said after her century in Mumbai. "That might still be me at the end of the warm-up games, so (to bat) anywhere in that order would be unbelievable for me. At the same time it's a very hard batting line-up to break into and I can only control what I can."

On the other hand there is the uncapped duo of Nicola Carey and Sophie Molineux who present an equally compelling case, being like-for-like replacements for McGrath. Undoubtedly, balance of the squad will take precedence but the flat track expected at Vadodara's Reliance Stadium might just tip the scales in Mooney's favour a tad bit.