The Indian women’s team’s poor run continued in New Zealand as they suffered a fourth successive loss in the five-match ODI series in Queenstown on Tuesday. Despite leaving out the experienced, but out-of-form all-rounder and vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur, the visitors lost by 63 runs.
Harmanpreet, 32, India’s T20I captain, has 4,958 international runs and 66 wickets under her belt. But after India lost their tour-opening T20I tie by 18 runs on February 9, she managed just 45 runs in the four ODIs thereafter. Some of the coaches, who have guided Harmanpreet, believe she is still riding on the unbeaten 171 she scored against Australia in the 2017 ICC World Cup semi-final at Derby, England.
More consistency needed
She has scored just three half-centuries in 33 ODIs since. “Harmanpreet needs to be more consistent. It has been over five years since she scored that 171. How long will she play on the basis of that performance? If she is not doing well, she doesn’t deserve to be the T20I captain,” Tushar Arothe, who coached India to the 2017 World Cup final, told mid-day from Baroda on Tuesday.
Harmanpreet began comparing herself to senior campaigner and skipper Mithali Raj and that has affected her consistency, felt Arothe. “Even then I used to tell her, ‘Harman you need to forget that 171’. I told her that she needs to be more consistent if she wants people to remember her. But she was trying to compare herself with Mithali.
“There is no comparison as Mithali has played across different eras and is still performing” added Arothe.
Distractions galore
In 2017, Harmanpreet was representing Western Railway (WR) and was posted in Mumbai. The WR women’s head coach Prasad Patil too found her distracted. “Unlike today, there were hardly any facilities and no importance was given to women’s cricket in 2017. Harman used to work hard on her game as well as her physical and mental fitness. But then she got distracted as women cricketers suddenly began attracting media attention. This publicity affected her game. After returning from the 2017 World Cup, these players were only busy attending felicitation functions for nearly a year,” revealed Patil, who felt Harmanpreet should address the mental aspect of things.
“I don’t see any problems in her batting. What is affecting her is the mindset, her daily habits and lifestyle. She must consult a sports psychologist,” he said.
