Indian women’s cricket team T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur has on Thursday (July 8) admitted that the longer-than-expected recovery from the groin injury and then contracting COVID-19 affected her preparations for the ongoing multi-format tour of England.
The 32-year-old has been in poor form against England Women and she blamed lack of preparation for her prolonged lean patch with the bat following her recovery from the groin injury that she sustained in March and then from the COVID-19 infection earlier this year.
She scored 4 and 8 in the drawn one-off Test in Bristol last month and then managed only 1, 19, and 16 in the three-match ODI series that India lost to England 2-1. However, the senior cricketer is confident to find her form back in the three-match T20I series against England starting on Friday (July 9).
Harmanpreet said in a virtual media conference ahead of the first T20I: “I am someone who likes to train every day, who likes to work hard every day but because of COVID and injuries, I didn't get that much time to prepare. These are not excuses but this is the reality which I faced. It's a matter of one good innings and definitely, I will carry on from there.”
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She continued, “I'm someone who likes to give 200 percent on the field, needs a lot of time for preparation on the ground. At the international level, you can't get things easily, the mindset and approach for the game is not that easy. After the five innings, I've understood, where and how to improve.
You will definitely see a different approach from my side in the T20s. Right now, I'm feeling good, physically I'm fit but the only thing I need is some more time in the nets. That's all I can say. During this time, I got enough time to train. Now I'm quite confident and I'm ready to play these three matches.”
On her injury she suffered during the ODI series against South Africa at home, the Indian skipper said: “It was a Level-4 injury in my groin on the right side but then it shifted to the left side as well, while playing matches because ODI is a long format.”
Kaur’s rehab also got affected after she contracted the dreaded Coronavirus in April 2021.
She said, “Because of COVID, I did not get those practice games, there was not much time. Even NCA was closed at that time and I was doing my rehab through online video meetings and at that time I contracted COVID.
The injury which would have taken 15 days to heal took me two months because of COVID which also made me weak. The time was very difficult and I didn't get much time for batting, bowling, and hone my skills. I was just working on myself so that I could become fit physically for the team.”
She also believes that India has got the momentum against England after a morale-boosting four-wicket win in the final ODI and the tourists will carry that momentum to the T20I series.
The skipper added, “If you see the second ODI, we didn't win the game, but got the momentum from there only. The way we fielded and bowled was outstanding. After a long gap we were playing, it's not easy. But we will definitely like to carry that momentum.”
Kaur also lauded the all-rounder Sneh Rana for her performance so far in England. She signed off by saying, “The team is looking very balanced at this moment. We struggled at death but with Rana, we are getting the balance right. We need that type of player who can contribute with bat and ball.”
(With PTI Inputs)
