CWC 2022: My 171* has been a benchmark, overshadowing my other contributions- Harmanpreet Kaur

Harmanpreet Kaur also confirmed where she'll bat for India in World Cup.

India ODI vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur has said that her famous knock of 171* against Australia in the 2017 Women’s World Cup has overshadowed her many “crucial” knocks of 30 and 40, which followed that “benchmark-setting” innings. This comes after her prolonged poor patch with the willow.

Two days before the ODI World Cup 2022 begins in New Zealand, the vice-captain added that critics often forget her low-scoring but important knocks because of one standout performance.

“I know people talk more about my 171-knock and that is a standard I have set for myself, maybe that’s why my small knocks of 30-40 runs, which are crucial to the team, are not given importance. I don’t want to judge myself through numbers – what matters to me is that when the team needs me, I can stand up for them be it by scoring 100 runs or 10 runs,” Kaur said during a virtual press conference on Wednesday.

Kaur had managed just 33 runs in the first three ODIs against New Zealand recently and was dropped for the fourth match. However, in the final game, the right-hander smashed 63, following it up with a 104 in the warm-up match against South Africa.

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“Yes definitely (feeling confident about batting), there were a lot of ups and down in my performance but the last hundred performance has given me a lot of confidence. The innings against New Zealand were very crucial for me. I got the rhythm I needed now it’s very important for me to continue this rhythm and momentum.

I have a lot of expectations from myself because I know my importance in the team. One wants to do well every time but things are not always in your favor. When things are not going your way a lot of people say a lot of things but the good thing in that is the people around me gave me a lot of confidence during the crucial time,” he said.

“It is painful when as a cricketer you are not getting runs. You are trying to give your 200 per cent but are not able to deliver at that level you expect of yourself,” she added.

Kaur confirmed that she will be batting at number five in the World Cup.

“I am more comfortable at four but sometime you have to play according to the demands of the team. We had discussions on that but as of now I’m going to play at number 5 but in future if there are any changes that would be according to match situations,” she said.

(PTI inputs)