India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur is keen on giving game time to the less experienced players during the Women’s Asia Cup 2022, starting on Saturday (October 1) as the team prepares for the T20 World Cup early next year.
While the likes of D Hemalatha and Kiran Navgire were given a chance in the preceding series against England, they failed to live up to the expectations.
Having recovered from a wrist injury, Jemimah Rodrigues is likely to play as an opener against Sri Lanka in the tournament opener.
"A lot of T20s are coming up ahead of the World Cup. Players who have not got enough chances can also get match time before the World Cup. There are lot of areas we can work on. We are going to see if somebody else can get a chance in the first six overs and players can also be tried out in the middle overs and death overs.
"Bowling also we need to try for the right team combination. Jemi is fine, she batted in the nets today," Harmanpreet quoted as saying by PTI.
Opener Shafali Verma has come under the scanner for her dismal run lately but the captain backed the 18-year-old opener to get back amongst the runs.
"She is doing really well in the nets. Sometimes you are not able to carry that form in the middle. You need to spend some time in the middle and I am sure she will get her form back. Asia Cup will be a great platform for her.
"We will try to give her enough matches to get her confidence back."
The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side is going into the Asia Cup 2022 high on confidence, having beaten England 3-0 in the ODI series.
"When we went to England we wanted to play good cricket. Practice sessions were calculative. We did not think of creating any history and our plans were good and the results came, we have waited for it for a long time, so we were not surprised.
"The last couple of months, the way we played as team everyone was helping each other. We need to keep doing that to get the results. Watching videos and making plans of the opposition was helpful. We got enough data for all teams here as well," she added.
(With PTI inputs)
