After Australia clinched their first overseas win following a prolonged gap by 21 runs on a placid surface against hosts, as soon after the game, Team India skipper Virat Kohli met premium batters of national Women’s team in Bengaluru.
Interestingly, a strong force to reckon with the batting, Kohli has always expressed his unconditional support for the Indian women’s team which eventually emerged as the runners-up during the recently concluded 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup in England.
The 28-year-old Harmanpreet Kaur was excited to spend the quality time with her ideal star in the form of Kohli alongside rookie opening batter Smriti Mandhana post the fourth ODI at M. Chinnaswamy stadium.
The happy-go-lucky duo shook hands with the batting mainstay Kohli, who was equally wearing a smile to discuss cricket with prominent faces of women’s cricketer. Harmanpreet has represented India in 78 ODIs in which the batter scored 2,025 runs in 66 innings at an average of 36.81. The elegant stroke-maker Harmanpreet has also featured in 68 T20Is and two Tests after making her debut in 2009 against Pakistan. While enhancing her performance, the Punjab-born Harmanpreet has three hundred and ten fifties to her name in the 50-over format.
The women players have had proved their mettle while showcasing their talent owing to the superlative performances at the elite format, as they donned the national colours. While relying on her strength, the left-handed batter Smriti played 32 ODIs, 27 T20Is and two Tests for India.
The top-order batsman smashed two hundred and six fifties in the One-Day format, as her average reads as 30.09 in ODI after scoring 933 in 32 innings. The development was revealed by the official Twitter handle of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on Friday (September 29) with the photographs.
“#TeamIndia Captain @imVkohli meets @BCCIWomen members @ImHarmanpreet & @mandhana_smriti post the match in Bengaluru,” BCCI tweeted.
Virat Kohli and his men didn’t enjoy the success at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru after a late flurry of wickets restricted India to 313 for eight in 50 overs in response to 334 for five.
(Read Also: IND vs AUS 2017, 4th ODI: Twitter Reacts as Australia Ends India’s Winning Streak)
Before the fourth match of the five-match One-day International series, India clinched the series by routing Australia in first three fixtures which further saw Kohli equaling the record of his predecessor Mahendra Singh Dhoni for winning nine consecutive 50-over wins.
Moreover, in the upcoming double-header contests, Indian teams will be wrestling it out in the Twenty20 fixtures between February 18 and February 24, respectively in South Africa. Pertinently, the India men’s team is scheduled to play three Tests, six ODIs and three Twenty20 Internationals against Faf du Plessis’ Proteas team.
On the other side, the women team will play three ODIs and six T20Is between February 5 and 24, respectively, as their warm-up fixture is scheduled at Bloemfontein. The rigorous schedule was jointly announced by BCCI and Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Wednesday (September 27).
Here’s the tweet from BCCI which has already received 1.9k likes and 315 retweets at the time of filing this report:
#TeamIndia Captain @imVkohli meets @BCCIWomen members @ImHarmanpreet & @mandhana_smriti post the match in Bengaluru pic.twitter.com/3sMyl4ZfGD
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 29, 2017