Harmanpreet Kaur to give opportunity to players who offer skills in 'second department'

After crashing out in group stages of ICC Women's Cricket World Cup this year, India are coming back to international action by touring Sri Lanka for three T20Is in Dambulla and as many ODIs in Pallekele from June 23 to July 7. Apart from being a powerful striker of the ball, Harmanpreet also bowls handy off-spin.

"Not only me, we have also seen Shafali doing really well this season with her bowling. As a captain, I am very open with the ideas. Whoever can do well in the second department, I will definitely give them the opportunity. I didn't get much opportunity to bowl; but this time, whoever is doing well, I will give them a chance to prove themselves," said Harmanpreet in a pre-departure virtual press conference.

The retirement of India's long-time skipper and batting stalwart Mithali Raj means that Harmanpreet is now the senior-most batter in the side. "If I talk about my batting, I want to score a lot of runs for my team as batting is something which is very important. Leading will be the second part because as a batter if I do well, other things will be easy for me."

The retirement of Mithali means that Harmanpreet is now India's captain in both white-ball formats, a move which she feels will benefit her as a leader. "If I talk about myself, I have been leading the T20I side for a long time and now I am getting the opportunity to lead the ODI side. Things will be easier for me now as when two different captains were there, things weren't easy as we both had different ideas."

"If we discuss about our team and players also, it will be clear for them as to what I am demanding from them as a captain. Now it's easy for me to ask what I am expecting from them and things will be much easier for me as well as clear for team-mates."

With India all set to kickstart their journey in ICC Women's Championship, Harmanpreet was clear in her batting goal for the side: - crossing 300 runs in an ODI innings. It is something which they have achieved only thrice in their history, including the 317/8 against the West Indies in the World Cup this year, where Harmanpreet as well as Smriti Mandhana slammed centuries.

"We did set some goals during the World Cup (this year), where we were looking to score 300 runs, but we were able to get 270-280. We will look to score more than 300 runs; we do have some players who are playing some really good cricket. If we set bigger targets for us, then we can look for something bigger for us as a batting unit, and that is what we are going to do in the batting department."

--IANS nr/cs

( 527 Words)

2022-06-18-19:36:04 (IANS)