The India women’s cricket team plans to use the Asia Cup as a platform to try out different combinations as part of preparations for the T20 World Cup, which is to be held in South Africa in February next year.
India Women begin their Asia Cup campaign against Sri Lanka in Sylhet on Saturday. Though India’s T20 record of late has not been extraordinary, the Harmanpreet Kaurled team will start as the favourites in the Asia Cup.
India go into the tournament on the back of a terrific ODI series sweep in England and that perhaps gives the team management the licence to experiment in the Asia Cup.
“A lot of T20s are coming up ahead of the World Cup. Players who have not got enough chances can also get match time before the World Cup. There are a lot of areas we can work on. We are going to see if somebody else can get a chance in the first six overs and players can also be tried out in the middle overs and death overs. Bowling also we need to try for the right team combination,” Harmanpreet said.
It is clear from the skipper’s words that India intend to try out a different opening combination as Shafali Verma has been going through a poor run.
Jemimah Rodrigues has recovered from a wrist injury that kept her out of the England series and she is expected to play as an opener on Saturday.
“Jemi is fine, she batted in the nets today,” Harmanpreet said on Friday.
The captain, however, is also confident that the 18-year-old Shafali will get back among runs soon. “She is doing really well in the nets. Sometimes you are not able to carry that form in the middle. I am sure she will get her form back. Asia Cup will be a great platform for her.”
Harmanpreet is also happy that the team’s long-term plans are finally bearing fruit. “The last couple of months, the way we played as team everyone was helping each other. We need to keep doing that to get the results.”
Barring their only blemish in the last edition of the tournament, India have won all the Asia Cup titles since the event’s inception in 2004 (4 titles in ODI format and 2 in T20I version). India lost to Bangladesh in the last edition of the meet in 2018.
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Skipper stands firm
Deepti Sharma after running Charlie Dean out at the non-striker’s end at Lord’s on Saturday. AP/PTI picture
Harmanpreet Kaur has reiterated that Deepti Sharma was completely within her rights to run out Charlie Dean, who was backing up too far at the non-striker’s end, during the final ODI of the England series.
While the manner of the dismissal divided opinions about what is fair and unfair, the India women’s team captain said: “We were noting these things from the last couple of games. She (Dean) was taking long strikes and undue advantage, it was Deepti’s awareness (that she took the bails off).
“It was not part of the plan but everyone was there to win the game. Whenever you are on the ground, you want to win at any cost. The most important thing is to play within the rules. Whatever we did was very much in the rules. We need to move on,” she added.
