NEWS
Follow UsIndia Women skipper Harmanpreet Kaur has refused to comment on Arundhati Reddy and Shafali Verma’s exclusions from the squads for the West Indies series. Reddy, who was India’s joint-highest wicket-taker in the last T20 World Cup and also claimed four wickets in her last ODI against Australia, has been dropped from both the T20I and ODI squads.
Meanwhile, Shafali wasn’t part of India’s squad for the ODI series in Australia but has now also been left out of the T20I set-up. In 19 T20I innings this year, the opener has slammed 531 runs at an average of 33.18 and a strike rate of 126.7. She is India’s second-highest run-scorer in the 20-over format in 2024.
“I would say, ask the right person. I can only talk about the team, [the] team is here and what [all] things we can do to win this series. Regarding Shefali or any other player, (it is) better to ask the right persons,” said Harmanpreet ahead of the first T20I against West Indies in Navi Mumbai on December 15 (Sunday).
India’s ODI series in Australia ended on December 11, and now, three days later, the Women in Blue are set to play the first of three T20Is against West Indies. “I am not the right person to answer that. You can definitely ask the right person," she said.
“To be honest, it is difficult because we are coming from Australia, and after the game, only within 4-5 hours, we left the country and came back to India. But as a professional, these things happen and we just want to stay motivated and yesterday was a totally off day. We tried to rest well and tomorrow is another game, so looking forward for that.
“When we were coming back from Australia, we had good talks in the flight because that was the only time when we can talk and think about how we can start this series. We discussed about how we have to go about in this particular series.
“When you have very little time, it’s very difficult to reflect on things which we have done in the past. Staying together is something which is very important and which we have been doing. Whatever (is) in our hands, we are doing that to turn things around.”
After India failed to qualify for the semis of the T20 World Cup earlier this year, they defeated New Zealand in a three-match home series. They then travelled to Australia and suffered a humiliating 3-0 series defeat in the 50-over format. With the 2025 ODI World Cup set to happen in India, Harmanpreet is confident of doing well in home conditions.
“After the World Cup, we played against New Zealand, we did really well in the home conditions, and the Australia tour result was not something which we were expecting but a lot of learnings for us.
“In India, whenever we (have) played, we (have) played good cricket, the only [disappointing] thing was [the] World Cup and then the Australia tour, which didn’t go according to our plans but apart from that, if I see in this year, we played really good cricket, we won lot of matches in home conditions.
“These things happen, and as a team, it’s very important for us to stay together and think about all the positives we have done in the past.”
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