Indian women’s cricket team skipper Harmanpreet Kaur on Thursday (December 8) dismissed the reports of any feud with Ramesh Powar, who has been sacked as the head coach just two months before the T20 World Cup in South Africa.
Akin to 2018 when Powar was removed from the position of head coach after a fallout with then-captain Mithali Raj, the former India spinner once again faced the axing and got shifted to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) as a spin coach.
Amid the reports doing the rounds that it was done at Harmanpreet’s request, the Indian captain clarified that she enjoyed working with Powar and the decision was taken by the BCCI.
“Well, it’s nothing like that. I’ve always enjoyed working with Ramesh sir whenever I got an opportunity. We have learnt a lot from him and grown as a team,” Kaur said on the eve of their five-match T20I series against Australia, as quoted by PTI.
“It’s the BCCI’s decision who’s moved to NCA. He will work there as the spin coach, and whenever we’ll go to NCA, Ramesh sir is always available.”
The board has now appointed Hrishikesh Kanitkar as the batting coach and he will be at the helm for the home series against Australia, starting December 9 in Mumbai.
According to Harmanpreet Kaur, Kanitkar is an “apt candidate” for the job and the team is in the right hands.
“He was always available whenever it’s needed. He brings a lot of experience to the team. We are only looking forward and how we proceed further. We are in right hands. We are fully okay with whatever the decision BCCI is taking.
“He’s very calm. We needed someone who can give that calmness on the field. You would have seen that in the past at a crucial time, the girls need that support, someone who can guide with calmness and tell us what and how to do with some clear thoughts. We had experienced that in Sri Lanka.”
She further said the team was very excited upon knowing that Kanitkar has been roped in as a new coach.
“It would have been difficult if it was a new coach, but we have already worked with Hrishi sir. I don’t think there will be any problem. If a new coach would have come we would have to explain a lot of things, how we are working.
“He already knew the type of work we were doing. I don’t think there would be any major changes. When we got to know that he’s coming on board, the team got a lot positivity because we really liked the way he worked with us in Sri Lanka,” the captain stated.
Hrishikesh Kanitkar was in charge of the Indian women’s cricket team when they won a series in Sri Lanka, following the ODI World Cup debacle earlier this year.
“We discussed with him how to achieve our targets and we spoke about setting those small targets. He helped us in terms of how to execute plans.
“There were times on that tour when we lost early wickets, but we bounced back and scored big totals. He helped us in understanding how to bat in those circumstances.”
(With PTI inputs)
