Questions remain over Harmanpreet Kaur’s fitness as India gears up to face the West Indies in the second T20I at the DY Patil Stadium on Tuesday and take an unassailable lead in the three-match series.
While the Women in Blue registered a comfortable 49-run win in the series opener, captain Harmanpreet was off the field for a large part of the second innings after batting for a while.
Though the team management did not specify the reason behind her absence, Titas Sadhu said that “the medical team is looking into it” and expected her to be fine soon.
During her 14-minute stay at the crease, Harmanpreet struggled to middle the ball before hitting a boundary at the fag end. She also looked gingerly during the team’s training session ahead on the eve of the game, with her knee heavily strapped.
Despite some fine bowling performances by the young Titas Sadhu and the seasoned Deepti Sharma, sloppy fielding let India down on a few occasions.
| Photo Credit:
EMMANUAL YOGINI/ The Hindu
Despite some fine bowling performances by the young Titas Sadhu and the seasoned Deepti Sharma, sloppy fielding let India down on a few occasions.
| Photo Credit:
EMMANUAL YOGINI/ The Hindu
While it would be hoping for Harmanpreet to be fit despite a short turnaround time, India also needs to iron out its flaws in fielding. Despite some fine bowling performances by the young Titas Sadhu and the seasoned Deepti Sharma, sloppy fielding let India down on a few occasions. While Jemimah Rodrigues was confident that things will improve soon, the coaching staff got working with the youngsters for a session of catching practice, shortly after the match ended.
Shrugging off the disappointments of the Australia tour, where they lost the ODI series 0-3, the Indian batters – led by Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah – put up a brave fight against the West Indies bowlers, who were all over the place. And going forward, it would be important for the Indian batters to keep the momentum going and ensure that it doesn’t fumble in crunch situations.
Unlike India, which hardly got any time before the series, West Indies had nearly ten days to acclimatise to the conditions, but even then, none of its batters – barring Deandra Dottin and Qiana Joseph – could live up to the expectations. And, as its head coach Shane Deitz said, the visiting side needs to move on from the defeat and ‘come out and put a much better performance in the next game’.