IND W vs SL W: Harmanpreet Kaur Stays Calm, It Helps In Her Decision-making: Deepti Sharma
Published - 02 Jul 2022, 01:21 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:09 AM
Off-spinner Deepti Sharma of the Indian women’s squad believes that Harmanpreet Kaur’s ability to “stay calm” nearly always aids in her decision-making in the middle.
Following a challenging run-chase in the first ODI against Sri Lanka here on Friday, Deepti delivered an all-around performance to lead India to a four-wicket victory in Harmanpreet’s debut game as the official ODI captain.
Harmanpreet Kaur Leading The Team Very Well: Deepti Sharma
Asked about Harmanpreet’s captaincy in the 50-over format, Deepti said, “She always stays cool, whether it’s T20 or one-dayers. She is leading the team very well. Staying calm helps in taking better decisions, and we are enjoying her captaincy as a team.”
After longtime captain Mithali Raj announced her recent retirement, Harmanpreet assumed control of the 50-over format.
After Harmanpreet Kaur left for a well-made 44 while India was cruising at 123 for three, they came dangerously close to losing what appeared to be a straightforward run-chase of 172 and fell to 138 for six. However, Deepti (22 unbeaten) and Pooja Vastrakar (21 unbeaten) made sure India won with plenty of overs left. Deepti had just given great figures of 3/25 when this happened.
“We knew how the wicket was behaving, and we worked hard on partnerships. Our plan was to take 3-4 runs per over and we knew that we could build on a partnership that way and finish the game quickly,” Deepti said at the post-match press conference.
Working On My Batting: Deepti Sharma
The all-rounder believes that Deepti has developed new strokes that will benefit her in the long term despite receiving a lot of criticism for her sluggish batting.
“I worked a lot on my batting and bowling both before the camp, also developed shots, and you all must have seen it here. My role remains the same, to finish games for the team, and the more I do that, the better it is for the team.
We were losing wickets but my thought process was that I had to finish the game in the end. As a batting unit, we focussed on short partnerships and we achieved that in the game today.”
