India may have won two of their first three matches at the Women’s T20 World Cup and remain in contention for a semi-final berth, but their six-wicket defeat to South Africa at Manchester exposed a concern that has quietly followed them through the tournament – the inability of the middle-order to build on the platform laid by the top-order. At the centre of that conversation is captain Harmanpreet Kaur. Her scores of 36 off 35 balls against Pakistan and 24 off 22 against South Africa look respectable on paper, but a closer look tells a different story. In both matches, India lost early wickets and needed someone experienced to rebuild the innings before launching at the death. Harmanpreet did the rebuilding, but could not manage the acceleration towards the later overs which the innings needed. Against Pakistan, her strike rate was just above 102 despite facing enough deliveries to dictate the innings. She hit four boundaries but also played 13 dot balls, allowing Pakistan’s spinners to build pressure through the middle overs before holing out …