Struggling to score runs for a long time, senior India women’s cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur feels that her inning of 171 runs against Australia in the 2017 World Cup led to her subsequent 30s and 40s. No one noticed the crucial innings of the run.
Ahead of the Women’s ODI World Cup starting March 4 in New Zealand. The Indian vice-captain said critics often forget her low-scoring but important innings because of her scintillating innings.
Harmanpreet said in a virtual press conference on Wednesday. “I know that people talk more about my innings of 171 runs and I have also set that standard for myself. This is the reason why my small but important innings of 30-40 runs are not given importance.
“I don’t want to judge myself by statistics. What matters to me is that when the team needs me, I can be there for them. Whether I score 100 runs or 10 runs.
The 32-year-old all-rounder struggled to score runs for a long time. But returned to form just ahead of the World Cup starting on Friday.
Harmanpreet scored only 33 runs in the first three matches of the five-match ODI series against New Zealand after which she was ruled out of the fourth match. After this, he scored 63 runs in the last ODI and then 104 in the warm-up match against South Africa.
“Yes, I am confident about my batting. I have had many ups and downs in my performance. But the last century has given me a lot of confidence.
Harmanpreet said, “The innings against New Zealand was important for me. I got the momentum from him and now I need to maintain it. I put a lot of expectations on myself and I understand my importance in the team. It feels bad when you’re not scoring runs.”
ICC Women’s World Cup
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Mumbai-based sports psychologist Dr Mugdha Bawre is travelling with the Indian women’s team for the first time and Harmanpreet said her services helped immensely.
She said, “Mugdha madam has been of great help, especially in the last four matches that we played against New Zealand and in which I did not perform well. I was lost then.”
Harmanpreet confirmed that she will bat at number five in the World Cup.
ICC Women’s World Cup
She said, “I feel more comfortable at number four but sometimes you have to go according to the requirement of the team.
We discussed on this and now I will play at number five. In future, however, it can be changed according to the circumstances of the match.
Harmanpreet further said that even though the Indian batsmen are consistently scoring more than 250 scores, they will have to improve their performance in the last 10 overs.
“There are some departments, especially in the last five overs, we are not able to score many runs. The batting is fine till the first 40 overs but needs improvement in the last 10 overs.