The absence of Harmanpreet Kaur hurt India big time as they suffered a defeat against their Aussie counterpart in the first ODI. Although India put up a decent total of 225 runs, it appeared that the batting lineup was missing an anchor that Harmanpreet Kaur often provides. Captain Mithali Raj, played an innocuous inning of 63, as wickets kept tumbling from the other end, and it felt as if she was missing her deputy badly.
The criticism has gotten severe as it turned out that Harmanpreet won’t be playing in the second ODI as well. She is still recovering from the thumb injury she picked up during the warm-up matches. Since this is not her first injury of the year, it makes people question her constant involvement in the league circuit all around the world. Notably, Kaur has been playing Women’s Big Bash League, followed by The Hundred.
With her being a very vital part of the Indian Women’s Team, the former Indian Cricketer and BCCI Apex Council member Shanta Rangaswamy have come out with an open statement asking Harmanpreet to be more sensible. She told TOI, “What’s wrong with Harmanpreet… if she’s so prone to injuries then why is she playing in the Hundred and WBBL? You should give your body enough rest so that you can play for India.”
Rangaswamy further added that BCCI should make sure that their players like Kaur are at the peak of their fitness for International Duties. Since players like her “can give you big scores.”
With one more match to go in this ODI series and the One-off test to follow, we hope to see Kaur in action soon.
