Enjoying the extra responsibility of leading the side – Harmanpreet
WOMEN’S ASIA CUP 2022
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur said that she is enjoying the additional responsibility of leading the side across formats, ahead of their Asia Cup fixture against Sri Lanka in Sylhet on October 1. Harmanpreet’s run of good form can be evidenced by the fact that she has compiled 658 runs in her last 13 ODIs at an average of 73.11. In the recently-concluded ODI series versus England, she also cracked a superlative hand of 143 in Canterbury. In that period, she is also averaging a tick over 40 in the shortest format for India.
“Ever since I started playing cricket, responsibility is something I have enjoyed,” Harmanpreet said in the presser. “Leading the team is the biggest responsibility, and I am enjoying that.
“The coach, support staff, teammates, BCCI are appreciating, and we all are working together. When you work as a team, you can achieve good results. I am getting all the backing, and the focus has been on performance. I have told the team-mates that they have my backing, and they need to go and express themselves,” she added.
Harmanpreet has also been doing a fine job as a captain, having led India to a 3-0 ODI series win against England in their own backyard. Incidentally, it turned out to be India’s first ODI series win in England since 1999. India also won the Silver Medal at the Commonwealth Games under her leadership.
“When we went to England, we wanted to play good cricket. We did not put any pressure that we have to win or do really well. We were just going through the process. Our practice sessions were very calculative and everything was planned. We were working on something, and when we went there, we did not think of creating any history. We were not surprised with the result because we knew that if we work as per plan, results will show automatically.”
In contrast to Harmanpreet’s good run, India’s aggressive opener, Shafali Varma has been in poor form in the recent past. In T20Is, the opener is yet to score a fifty and is averaging 19.83 this year. Moreover, in the ODI series in England, Shafali notched up only nine runs across three games. Harmanpreet, though, sounded confident about Shafali returning to form, and observed that her team-mate has been batting well in net sessions.
“She is doing well at the nets. If you talk about her performance, it’s part of life. Sometimes you play well, but when you go into a match, you cannot continue that. But she is looking good. It’s just a matter of time, and once that lean patch is over, you can get your form back. Every day she is working hard,” Harmanpreet said.
Harmanpreet also said that the think-tank would try out different combinations, with an eye on the T20 World Cup scheduled to be played in South Africa in February next year. “We are going to play a lot of T20s in the coming months, because the T20 World Cup is nearing. We want to play more games in that format, so that we get a good number of matches under our belt. That is the target. The players who have not got enough chances can get more match time before the World Cup.”
(Cricbuzz)
