India’s women’s cricket legend Diana Edulji has said that time has come to drop ODI vice-captain and T20I captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, to be dropped from the team, owing to her continuous poor form. She also said the right-hander had survived long on her one good knock of 171* for 5 years now.
Harmanpreet has made only two 50 plus scores since the 2017 World Cup in England where India reached the final and she had made 171* in the semi-final against Australia. The 32-year-old had fitness issues last year but after an impressive WBBL, she was expected to replicate that performance at the highest level.
She scored 12 in the only T20I against New Zealand and has scored 10 runs each in two ODIs thus far.
Edulji also wants to drop Shafali Verma for the next game with Smriti Mandhana expected to return after completing quarantine.
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“If you are going with the same yardstick which was used to drop Jemimah Rodrigues, what the coach (Ramesh Powar) had mentioned, the same yardstick should be applied to Harmanpreet.
I am very disappointed with her. She was my favorite player but you can’t survive on that one inning (171* against Australia in 2017). She is only one inning away from a big knock but the effort has to be there. I will be the happiest if she proves me wrong. I just want the team to win the World Cup,” Edulji told PTI.
“Even on captaincy front, Smriti is the front runner for all formats after Mithali as Harman is not performing. I wouldn’t mind dropping her for the next game. Sneh Rana is a good replacement for her,” said the 66-year-old.
Diana Edulji, who played 20 Tests and 34 ODIs for India from 1976-1991, said that Shafali Verma also needs some tough love as bowlers have found out her weakness. Edulji wants to work on her game too.
“Shafali needs a little rap on the knuckle, she needs proper grooming. She is moving towards the square leg and playing. There is no stillness in her stance. I can’t understand why. When she was scoring, there wasn’t this type of (trigger) movement. Bowlers have found her out and that is why she is moving away from the stumps to play her strokes. But you have to respect the bowlers at this level,” said Edulji.
Staring at another series defeat, a struggling India will welcome the return of star opener Smriti Mandhana for the third women’s ODI against New Zealand here on Friday.
