MUMBAI:
Harmanpreet Kaur
cut a desolate figure when she chopped on an
Annabel Sutherland
slower delivery onto her stumps.
With India 64-3, the India skipper knew how crucial it was for her to stay at the crease and guide the team to safe shores but for the umpteenth time in the white ball formats this home season, she got out to a loose shot.
In five innings of the ODI and T20I series against Australia her scores read 9, 5, 3, 6, 3 while in the three T20Is against England at the end of last year, she had scores of 26, 9, 6*. Only time will tell whether it’s just a phase that all players pass through or whether the pressure of captaincy is getting to her.
Whatever may be the reason, the strain is showing on her batting. If we look at the patterns of her dismissals in most of the seven innings in white ball formats, it’s majorly down to her playing a loose shot rather than the opposition bowlers getting her out.
In the three ODIs against Aussies, twice she was out while top edging a sweep which is her get-out-of-jail shot against the spinners while on one occasion, she was out cutting—another shot she plays well against spin.
In the T20I against the Aussies, in the two innings she batted, the righthand batter was dismissed when she top-edged a sweep and in Tuesday’s T20I, she had picked up the slower one from Sutherland but could only chop it on her stumps. In the series opening T20I versus England she had played on while lining up to play a cut off left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone.
Only the Nat Sciver-Brunt delivery in the second T20I which cut back sharply and cleaned her up can be termed as an unplayable one. India head coach
Amol Muzumdar
was confident that Harman will get over this barren patch soon.
“It happens to every cricketer. She has been a great player for India and I’m sure you will see some bright performances from her in near future,” said Muzumdar.
Harman’s counterpart Alyssa Healy also felt that it was just a matter of time before she regained her form but also lauded her bowlers for keeping her quiet.
“She got out playing the sweep shot quite a lot, which she traditionally plays quite well. It might be down to some form. She has probably had two hard series on the trot and this series has been a long one. We had no specific plans in place, but we know we need to be switched on when she walks out to the crease and our bowlers did a great job at keeping her quiet,” said Healy.
While Harman the skipper has got every member of the squad to rally behind her, Harman the batter is losing that midas touch which India will be hoping she regains soon with two World Cups around the corner.
The T20 World Cup will be played in Bangladesh from September and then the 2025 ODI World Cup will be staged on home soil.
Need to focus on our fielding and fitness: Muzumdar With the T20 World Cup just eight months away, Muzumdar said that the team will need to focus on their “fielding” and “fitness” which was exposed during the white ball series against England and Australia respectively.
While he said that the back-to-back Test wins were the high points of this home season, he added: “We really need to focus on our fielding and fitness. Hopefully, in the following months, I will get a chance to work on it. Those are some areas where we have identified as agroup that we need to raise the bar.”
Besides Women’s Premier League (WPL), Indian players will have no T20 games leading into the T20 World Cup, but Muzumdar was confident that a plan will be put in place soon.
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