Shantha Rangaswamy Questions Harmanpreet Kaur's Captaincy Post-Defeat To Australia

Former Indian women’s team skipper Shantha Rangaswamy feels Harmanpreet Kaur should reflect back on the latest setback in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup final, and make a call on her captaincy. Team India surrendered to hosts and defending champions Australia, who won the final by a huge margin of 85 runs.

The Indian batswomen failed to make any sort of impact on the match, and while the bowling unit had been bailing them out in previous games such as these, the bowlers too failed — to rise to the occasion on Sunday.

Batting first, Australia racked up a huge total of 184 runs at the loss of just four wickets in their 20 overs. India, in reply, folded for just 99 runs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), to hand Meg Lanning’s team yet another Women’s T20 World Cup title.

While Harmanpreet’s side had a dream run to the final, they were handed a reality check in the end, and that’s why Shantha feels the skipper should make a call on her captaincy, in the future.

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Time for Harmanpreet Kaur to review own captaincy: Shantha Rangaswamy

Shantha, who has led the Indian team herself, said that the team needs Harmanpreet more as a batter at the moment, rather as a leader.

The 66-year-old also criticised the performances of senior batswomen who could only play the supporting act to 16-year-old revelation Shafali Verma.

“I am very disappointed that such high calibre batters like Smriti, Jemimah, Harman did not click at all. It was a consistent failure of Harman, Smriti, Jemimah and Veda,” Shantha told PTI after India’s crunching defeat in the final. 

She continued, “Shafali was the only one who made significant contributions while the others just chipped in which is not good enough to win a world title.”

Harmanpreet Kaur’s scores in Australia read, 4, 15, 1, 8, 2, which spoke about her troubles. Shantha feels that the Indian skipper is mature enough, to ponder upon what went wrong, and make a decision on her captaincy.

“I am sure she will know when to give up captaincy and it is time for her review her captaincy. She is a mature person because she definitely is needed in the team much more as a batter than captain, especially in T20s. It is worth pondering over. With new selectors, new think tank coming in after the World Cup (this can be reviewed),” added Shantha. 

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