Ramesh Powar, Team India head coach confirmed that batswoman Harmanpreet Kaur will not be available for the first ODI as she received a blow on her thumb. India plays Australian women in 3 ODI’s, 3 T20I’s, and a one-off Test.
Ramesh Powar: Harmanpreet Kaur Got A Hit On The Thumb So She Is Unavailable For The 1st ODI vs Australia
“Harmanpreet Kaur was deemed fit and hence she was selected for this tour, but unfortunately some days back she got a hit on the thumb so she is not available for the first ODI. The next ODI, we will take a call according to her pain and fitness management. Shikha Pandey is fit and fine, she is available for selection,” said Ramesh Powar during a virtual press conference.
“We expect the senior players to guide youngsters which they are doing,” said Ramesh Ramesh Powar while Mithali Raj said: “The two-week quarantine period was tough on our players because it was for two weeks, we did a week in England but this was stretched another week.”
“We definitely are looking at the composition before the World Cup and we will be giving our players a little more game time to fit in those roles. That is our objective in this series. I have not set any benchmarks for myself in this series, I have always felt that however I am playing, at the end of the day, my performance has to help the team to do well. If we end up winning, that is what I have always played for,” she added.
Depending on how the batting unit performs, skipper Mithali Raj will decide on whether to bat number three or four in the longer run. With Harmanpreet Kaur injured for the opener, she is likely to stick to the No. 4 position to lend more solidity to the batting line-up.
When asked whether she will bat at number three in the ODI series against Australia, Mithali said: “I think I am quite flexible with my batting order, whether it’s number three or four. It all depends on the composition of the team, if we have a good middle-order, then I put my role up which is number three. If there is inexperience in the middle-order then I push myself at number four. It all depends on the composition and now with Harmanpreet out for the first ODI, I have to think about my order.”
Ramesh Powar said that all other members of the consolidated Test and ODI squad are fit and are obviously available for selection for Tuesday’s fixture against Australian women. Harmanpreet Kaur was left out of the warm-up game on Saturday in Brisbane, though she is understood to have batted in the nets.
She had ended her Hundred stints in the UK prematurely owing to a quadriceps injury and then joined India’s other four women cricketers -all of whom were Hundred-returnees in the Bengaluru preparatory camp to serve a mandatory seven-day quarantine.
Though cleared as fit to play, her inclusion in India’s 22-player women squad for the seven-match multi-format series was something of a gamble since she made the cut without having been subjected to a workload assessment at a training given the quarantine restrictions.
Ramesh Powar: Shafali Verma Needs To Be Given Time
Ramesh Powar also said that opening batswomen Shafali Verma needs to be given time as she is just a youngster and there should not be the weight of the expectations on her shoulders.
“As far as Shafali is concerned, I think the way she played the Test game, we were happy. As a 17-year-old, we have to give her a little breathing space. Me, Mithali, and SS Das have had conversations with her.
“She knows what is expected out of her, we do not push her who is very expressive in her batting. We do not want to curtail her game, we want to give her freedom. She has played The Hundred so she has some confidence from that, it is important for us to let her express, she is just 17, we cannot forget that,” said Ramesh Powar.
Team India departed for Australia on August 28 and upon landing, every member of the touring party underwent mandatory 14-day hard quarantine.