It was nice to see Ajit Agarkar sitting next to Rohit Sharma, announcing India's squad for the upcoming ICC Men's ODI Cricket World Cup, and then fielding questions from journalists. Not for the first time too, since taking over in this role in July. Of course, in an ideal world, that is nothing out of the ordinary. But this is Indian cricket, a press conference with the chief selector present is extraordinary for the times we live in.

So much so that, there has never been a press conference featuring Indian women's team selection committee chairperson, Neetu David. The BCCI website's search option is not the greatest tool in the history of the internet (ask anyone who has tried looking up match highlights). But a search for the former India cricketer's name is rather telling: "Data not Found." Of course.

There are so many questions that come up every single time an Indian cricket team squad is named. For a while in the recent past, it used to be the same for both men's and women's, and these questions went unanswered. While Agarkar's arrival has seemingly changed things (whether that's on him or the board, one doesn't know for sure) but David hasn't been there to field any in her time as chief of the women's selection committee (whether that's on her or the board, one doesn't know for sure.)

One of the quirks about questions regarding selection in the women's game in India is that the captain and coach (more on this later) often take questions about reasons for certain omissions when they interact with the media. But ask them a "why" question, and the response is usually along the lines of "well, ask the selectors." Where does one get to do that? Apparently, no one knows. It's a mystery more convoluted than the chicken-egg question.

So, here we are, in September 2023. The senior Indian women's team will be in action soon at the Asian Games in Hangzhou and there is still no official update on the search for a head coach. Ramesh Powar's stint came to an abrupt end in December last year, and since then there's been no permanent appointment. In that period, Harmanpreet Kaur and Co played a World Cup. It doesn't still feel quite real that a supposedly professional sporting team went for one of the biggest events in their careers, without a permanent head coach at the helm.

And now, as another significant series comes along, it seems Hrishikesh Kanitkar is back as the interim in-charge. There have been multiple reports in the last few months regarding some names in the fray, but nothing official yet. Of course, if the schedule for the men's ODI World Cup being hosted in the country is all last-minute, what hope does the women's team have for knowing who will be their full-time coach over the period of a few months?

As for the squad itself, Harmanpreet Kaur was named the captain but the events in Bangladesh mean she is going to miss a couple of India's matches in Hangzhou. And so Smriti Mandhana is the captain for Asian Games. How do we know this? Because she is the face of all the promos on Sony Sports Network. The BCCI hasn't mentioned anything about a change in captaincy, and whether Harmanpreet will still be part of the main squad or will someone else come in to replace her. (For what it is worth, the list of athletes participating in the Asiad released by the sports ministry on 24 August does have Harmanpreet in the 15-member list.)

Elsewhere, Richa Ghosh was dropped but is back. Shikha Pandey, who had a terrific WPL season in the format that will be played at the Asian Games, is seemingly out of favour again. There is still no sign of Renuka Singh Thakur. There could well be legitimate, logical answers for these questions, but we'd not hear them from any official channels.

This was supposed to be a momentous year for women's cricket overall, and in India particularly. It all started so well with the triumph at the U19 World Cup. The WPL went off well, because hey, that's where the money's at. (Yet you were also left wondering once again why it took so long.)

Then, the Bangladesh tour was so forgettable for Indian cricket for many reasons, with the climactic events involving Harmanpreet getting more air-time and column inches than any of the aforementioned issues.

And all this without even getting into some of the things mentioned in Sharda Ugra's report.

Ahead of the Asian Games, it seems Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan are all in good form. Nida Dar's Pakistan defeated T20 World Cup finalists South Africa at home, a clean sweep at that. Chamari Athapaththu's Sri Lanka went to England and won not just their first match in this format but the series too. Nigar Sultana Joty's Bangladesh gave India plenty of trouble in their home assignments. These four teams are favourites for the medals and you could make a strong case that India are the most undercooked among them going into the event.

What has the Indian team been up to to shake off rustiness and get some game-time in the last few weeks? The BCCIWomen Twitter handle has posted three updates since the Bangladesh series, and two of them were – please pretend to be surprised here – birthday wishes. The other is inviting applications for bowling and fielding coaches. File that under: "whatever happened to this?" just as the invitation for the head coach.

The Indian women's cricket team will once again be expected to deliver at a big event. And fair enough too, things are better than they used to be as some will no doubt point out, and the quality is there without doubt for results to follow. It's alright to expect the team to succeed at these big events, and the players should be held accountable as well for their performances. But once again, everything around them feels terribly underwhelming. And that is a mild word to describe things in Indian cricket in general at the moment.

So many questions while the status quo is maintained. Good luck if you are searching for satisfying answers.