Gujarat Giants Head Coach Sends A Message to Indian Selectors Over Harleen Deol

Harleen Deol has been in excellent form this season. She has scored a couple of 30s and a 45 but on March 7 (Saturday), she showed her class by smashing an unbeaten off just 49 deliveries against Delhi Capitals (DC) to take Gujarat Giants (GG) to a five-wicket victory to push them to second in the Women's Premier League (WPL) 2025 points table.

Overall, Deol has scored 200 runs at 50 to go with a strike rate of 120.48 in the tournament. Following her excellent performance, Giants head coach Michael Klinger issued a message to the Indian selectors.

"If you’re an Indian coach or Indian selector, you know that Harleen can do a role at five or six in the middle, or she can do a role up top," Klinger said after the match.

"So, that becomes very attractive in terms of a T20 squad because you know she can do a number of roles, and I’m really happy for her.”

Deol is yet to stamp her authority in India's T20I side, having managed just 251 runs in 17 innings at an underwhelming strike rate of 84.79. However, the 26-year-old has improved her strike rate this season, and Klinger puts that down to her attacking mindset.

"This season, we asked her to show some intent, and she’s done that by stepping down the wicket, amongst other things," Klinger said.

"Hopefully, that’s something she can take forward in T20 cricket. I think she’s going to be a long-term Indian player in all formats, and she’s shown that she can be a force in T20 cricket as well."

Three of GG's four wins this season have come in the last three games. Klinger feels that it is the depth in the bowling department that has allowed them to go on a winning run, after winning just one of their first four matches.

"If you look at it a strategy and tactical side of things, one thing we’ve got now is eight extra quality options from Kashvee [Gautam] and Priya [Mishra] . Just getting those extra eight overs into our side has been a huge bonus for us," Klinger said.

"What I've been proud of in the last 12 months is that we had a few players play the international matches for India A and India.

"That experience and exposure to high-level cricket has held them in really good stead for this tournament because they’re coming up against some world-class Indian players and some world-class international players."