Lisa Sthalekar, the mentor of UP Warriorz, came to Kiran Navgire's defence on Wednesday, when the hard-hitting opening batter had fallen for a third-ball duck against Delhi Capitals. It was her third successive failure of the ongoing campaign, having compiled only six runs in those matches.

"Kiran hasn't clicked yet for us. But one thing about her is she's not going to eat up balls, is she? She's willing to take the bowlers on," Sthalekar had said in her defence.

Sthalekar reflected her opinion on Navgire after having observed her closely for more than three seasons as part of UPW. For as much as a silver lining as 'she's not going to eat up balls' is in that assessment of Navgire, it may not be entirely flattering for Navgire who has been attempting to spend more time in the middle. That is what she had prepared herself to do in the lead-up to the tournament.

"Ever since we started our pre-season camp, Abhishek [Nayar] sir has told me to stay in the middle for longer periods and try to score," Navgire told Cricbuzz. "He had said, 'Waha pe khade hona hai, runs apne aap aa jaayenge'."

Navgire has had her moments in WPL, clubbing quickfire half-centuries in each of the first three seasons. While her scoring rate has also picked up, and was among the best in the competition the last couple of seasons, what she has lacked is her ability to score consistently, averaging less than 20 in each of the three seasons.

Nayar's advice was also a way to curb Navgire's natural instinct to attack at all times. His instruction was 'play according to the ball, and not the field'. "He asked me to choose the deliveries to hit," Navgire claims. "He told me, 'we have other players as well to score runs, so you don't have to take the burden of scoring on everyone's behalf. We have to get the score together as a team.' When that thought settled in, it allowed me to unburden myself. So that's how I'm preparing."

With 162 runs to chase against Mumbai Indians, the target afforded Navgire to switch to that plan on Monday. Meg Lanning, her captain and opening partner, took the attacking role in the powerplay, and the duo combined to play out the powerplay, with Navgire managing only 10 off 11 balls.

Although that's not exactly what may have been Nayar's pre-season suggestion, the soft drives and flicks offered Navgire the kind of time to settle in that she usually doesn't get. Through this, she found a couple of opportunities to free her arms and slam boundaries when the ball came into her slot. It was a convenient opportunity to warm-up with a big score.

But it wasn't to be. Nat Sciver-Brunt, a familiar nemesis returned to dismiss her again, this time with an off-cutter which took the top-edge of her pull and settled into the hands of the deep backward square leg fielder.

Despite possessing the kind of power that few do in Indian cricket, Navgire's career has not taken off as smoothly for the talent she possesses. In six games for the national team, as a designated power-hitter, she was unable to stamp her place. The only knock of any note in her international career has been a 4-ball 10* against UAE

Her returns in domestic cricket, however, have been prolific, as a result of which, she has never gone completely off the radar. Even in the ongoing season, she has been prolific. In the senior women's T20 trophy, she smashed 233 runs in seven innings at a strike rate of 235.35. In the inter-zonals, she hammered 245 runs in five innings at 177.53.

These domestic numbers were a result of a larger course of action she had undertaken to improve as a cricketer.

On June 29, 2025, Navgire had penned down a plan. The intent? To make it to the Indian national team for the 2026 T20 World Cup.

The plan was a way of giving herself a deadline for what she had already promised Jon Lewis, the former coach of UP Warriorz, at the end of the team's campaign in Women's Premier League 2025, where they returned with a wooden spoon - that she will be an improved cricketer?

What would that improvement mean, he asked?

"I will work on my fitness, and improve my fielding," she promised.

So as the task began in the new season, she swapped her homely food for a new nutrition plan - where she ate timely, controlled her intake, and switched to boiled food. Her training routine too became more stringent as she looked to improve her agility and movement. Long runs were reserved for once a week, and daily short sprints of 10-20-30-40 meters became the routine.

It helped her switch between her backfoot and frontfoot play with greater ease, and showed in the performances at the domestic level. However, all that improvement is yet to be witnessed at the elite level. This season, again, after being told that she would be playing as opener, she was dropped down from that position in just the second game of the league.

Even though Navgire has admitted to being flexible about her batting position, with 'Jaha pe opportunity mile, waha jaakar todna hi hai' being her mantra, by the time she found her position back and was dismissed for a third-ball duck, she had already registered three poor starts.

Nayar believes the conditions at the DY Patil Stadium haven't suited her style of batting, but he is willing to back her for a longer period to come good. "Right now it's about keeping her in that [positive] frame of mind. It's been hard for her so far in this tournament because she came in with a lot of expectations after her domestic season. These conditions have not necessarily suited her yet. We've tried to make sure that she can still go and give herself the best chance by being aggressive. That is who she is.

"Today we tried a bit by changing the strike. We'll say we at least got past the powerplay [with Navgire still at the crease]. So that is a small change we did. At times like that, I just feel, in this format, it's cruel. It's so fast-paced that it's not easy on a player. So you want to make sure you give them the freedom and you give them the support so they can keep going. When you don't win, it becomes hard. But when you win, it becomes slightly easier."

Despite a poor start to her season, Sthalekar has also backed Navgire to bring out that special talent sooner. "We're just hoping that the work that she's been doing prior to this tournament, and then also in the lead-up to these matches and the plans that she's coming in with, talking to the coaching staff [works out]. From our point of view, [it would help if she can put this] one away, so that she goes, 'OK, I can do this'. Because you guys would have seen how destructive she can be. She's a real X-factor."