Indian women’s team captain Harmanpreet Kaur admitted that they have to work on their death bowling after they suffered a 54-run defeat against Australia in the fifth and final T20I on Tuesday (December 20) at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.
With the crushing defeat in the final T20I, India Women lost the T20I series 1-4 to Australia Women.
After the match, Kaur spoke about India’s bowling and batting, as well as the reason behind dropping Jemimah Rodrigues for the final T20I.
Harmanpreet Kaur said after the match: “We are not giving them easy runs in the first 10 overs but after the 10th over things are changing. We were also thinking about these things. We planned a lot of things but were not able to execute them. We will work on it to get results. We will analyze who can bowl for us after the 10th over and in the death overs.”
She added, “We earlier wanted to work on our first 6 overs and are getting results but we need to analyze our death bowling. It is difficult to do it during the course of a series. We’ve a one-month off now and we can plan on how we can stop the flow of runs in the last 10 overs by bowling in the right areas.”
On resting Jemimah Rodrigues for the fifth match, the Indian skipper said: “Jemmy was given a break as she is very important to us. Going forward that we keep her in a good frame. I feel that if the batting is flexible it helps the team. Harleen was getting momentum and we wanted to see how she fares at number three it was good to see her be positive.”
Meanwhile, the Indian skipper said that the team is looking to create a strong pace battery before heading into the upcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023.
She added, “Seam is going to play a key role in coming matches. Sometimes expected performances cannot be delivered by players. Pooja will fill in the 3rd-4th seamer role but we were also looking at other seam options as the World Cup is in South Africa where pacers are more relevant and we want to have a solid pace lineup heading into the World Cup.”
Speaking on India’s failure to stop the flow of runs in death overs in the T20I series against Australia, Kaur said, “As a team, we had our belief that we will play our best and play positively. Especially in the batting, everyone was positive and looking to score. First 10 overs we have been really good and we can carry that forward, we need to work on our bowling in the death overs which we will do in the one-month break that we are getting.”
Sharing leadership tips for Shafali Verma for the U-19 World Cup, Harmanpreet noted: “I saw the way she was leading in domestic cricket. She is brilliant doing that, she knows what she is doing. The only advice that I want to give her is that she should just play freely and enjoy the game. They know their role and that makes the job of the captain easy.
The captain can just go and tell what is expected of them and whenever she joins the team she should talk to the players. It's important to go out and perform because if you do that everything is much easier for the team then.”
Kaur signed off by saying about her cricket in 2022, “2022 was something that I learnt a lot from. This year I wanted to convert the chances when I got the start and stay there for the team. When I am doing well the team and the people coming in to bat are positive which boosts my confidence. Thanks to all the teammates, support staff and selectors for providing me with what I need.”
(With ANI Inputs)
