Harmanpreet Kaur Explains Why Jemimah Rodrigues Was Left Off the Team for the Fifth Twenty20 International Against Australia

After India’s defeat to Australia in the fifth Twenty20 International, India captain Harmanpreet Kaur lauded her team’s bowlers for their performance in the first ten overs but emphasised the need to improve their bowling in the last overs of the match.

The squad will use the one-month break that they get before the Twenty20 World Cup in February to work on improving their bowlers’ performance in the final 10 overs, as stated by the team’s skipper. The Twenty20 World Cup is scheduled to take place in February.

After the tenth over, things are starting to change, but we are not making it easy for them to score runs in the first ten overs. Similarly, we were considering the aforementioned topics.

We had a lot of plans, but unfortunately we were unable to put them into action. We are going to put in effort to achieve success with it. After the tenth over, as well as throughout the death overs, we are going to evaluate our bowling options.

We had planned previously to improve on our batting during the first six overs, and while we are getting benefits from that, we still need to examine our death bowling.

It is challenging to accomplish this when watching an ongoing series. “Now that we have a one-month break, we can strategize on how to stem the flow of runs in the last ten overs by bowling in the appropriate locations,” Harmanpreet Kaur said. “We have a one-month break.”

She stated that the team is looking into different players to select into the team in order to develop a strong pace battery before coming into the T20 World Cup. Additionally, she stated that the team is looking at other players to use as backups.

The seam is likely to be extremely important in the upcoming contests. There can be occasions when players are unable to provide the required performances.

Pooja will fulfil the position of the third or fourth seamer, but we were also looking at other seamer alternatives because the World Cup will be held in South Africa, where pacers are more important, and we want to have a strong pace lineup going into the World Cup.

Over the first ten overs of the T20 international series, the Indian side bowled exceptionally well; but, they were unable to stem the tide of runs during the final five overs.

Harmanpreet Kaur stated the following when asked to evaluate the strengths that the team possessed during the series: “As a team, we had our belief that we will play our best and play positively.

During the hitting portion of the game, in particular, everyone had a cheerful attitude and was wanting to score. The first ten overs we have bowled have been pretty good, and we can keep that momentum going. However, we do need to improve our bowling in the death overs, and we will focus on that during the month-long vacation that we are getting.

The skipper also gave some advice on how to be a good leader to the young player Shafali Verma, who will be captaining India’s Under-19 team in the World Cup in January.

“I noticed how she was dominating the competition in the domestic cricket league. That is a fantastic move on her part, and it demonstrates that she is very knowledgeable in that area.

My one and only piece of guidance for her is to ignore my instructions and simply let loose and have fun with the game. They are well aware of their responsibilities, which makes the job of the captain much simpler.

It is enough for the captain to just speak to the players and explain what is expected of them, and everytime she joins the team, she should chat to the other members of the group. According to Harmanpreet, “it is essential to go out and perform because if you do that, everything is much easier for the team at that point.”

She summed up her cricket season for the year by saying that playing in 2021 was an experience from which she gained a lot of knowledge. This year, I wanted to make the most of my opportunities when I was given the starting role and maintain that role for the benefit of the team.

When I’m performing well, both my team and the people who are coming up to bat have a positive attitude, which helps build my confidence. I would like to express my gratitude to all of my teammates, the support staff, and the selectors for giving me what I require.

In addition to that, she discussed the lineup of the team’s batting order and noted that they are striving to develop a lineup that is adaptable.

She stated that she was given a rest and that Harleen Deol was given the opportunity to bat at number three as a result of Jemimah Rodrigues not being selected for the final Twenty20 International.

“Harleen is someone who is ready to bat in any position, and she has a very optimistic attitude. ” Due to the fact that she and I failed to properly communicate with one another, she was unable to participate.

Because we place a high priority on Jemmy, she was allowed some time off. Moving forward, it is important that we keep her in a healthy frame of mind.

In my opinion, it is beneficial to the team to have some leeway in the batting order. Harleen was picking up steam, and we were curious to see how she would perform at number three. It was encouraging to see her maintain a positive attitude,” she said.

After winning the toss, India decided to put Australia in to bat first. Both Gardner (66*) and Harris (64*) unleashed mayhem in the final 10 overs of Australia’s innings, amassing 124 runs in the second half of their innings combined. At the completion of the first ten overs, Australia was four wickets down and had 72 runs on the board.

One wicket was taken by Anjali, Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma, and Devika Vaidya respectively.

India, which was attempting to reach 197, continued to lose wickets at regular intervals and did not appear to be a threat at any point. The only hitters that stood out were Deepti Sharma (53) and Harleen Deol (24), who both had scores of 24.

For Australia’s bowlers, the best performance came from Heather Graham (4/8). In addition to the two wickets that Ashleigh Gardner took, Tahlia McGrath, Annabel Sutherland, and Darcie Brown each took one.