Building world-beating team: Harmanpreet Kaur wants to develop current side for T20 World Cup

Mumbai, December 8

Captain Harmanpreet Kaur today said players will be given enough rope as India start their buildup towards next year’s T20 World Cup.

The Indian women have a busy month ahead as they will play two more T20Is and a one-off Test against England, followed by a one-off Test, three ODIs and as many T20Is against Australia at home.

Harmanpreet said the team will look to give more opportunities to new players in the upcoming matches. India have picked three new spinners in Shreyanka Patil, Saika Ishaque and Mannat Kashyap for the ongoing series against England.

“The team which we picked for this T20I is the one we want to build for the upcoming World Cup,” Harmanpreet said.

While both Patil and Ishaque made their debuts in the first T20I played on Wednesday, Kashyap featured in the three-match ‘A’ series before getting her maiden call-up to the national side. “Saika and Shreyanka did really well in the last game. They are quite confident. After the game we did sit with them and discuss what best they can do in the upcoming game,” Harmanpreet said.

Patil returned with figures of 2/44 while Ishaque took 1/38 in their respective four overs each. “They just need opportunities. They just need to go out there and execute in the best way,” the skipper said.

Harmanpreet was clear that improving the team’s fielding remains top priority after India dropped a couple of crucial catches and also made other errors in the field. “Fielding is something we have been talking about for so many years and fielding is something as a team we want to improve,” she said.

But she also counted the positives. “When we got together on the first day, everyone spoke about fielding and the best part in the last game was that we could see everyone dived. As a captain, I want our fielding side to be the best,” she said.

Harmanpreet said she wants her side to keep growing as a team despite faltering in the final stages of global events. “I just want us to grow as a team. I want this team to grow and in a way that everyone says that this is the best team,” she said. “For me winning a World Cup is a dream and I am just working towards that and that is the only reason I requested BCCI to get a young team. These games are very important. England are not going to give us anything easily, so we are putting ourselves under pressure,” she said. — PTI

Eng not distracted by WPL auction

Mumbai: England will remain focused on the second T20I, undeterred by the concurrent off-field excitement of the Women’s Premier League auction, wicketkeeper-batter Amy Jones said today. Leading 1-0 in a three-match series, England will take on India just a few hours after the auction begins for the five WPL franchises. “We had a very similar situation in the T20 World Cup which was just completely new for us as a group, obviously the first auction ever in women’s cricket,” Jones recalled about the last WPL auction in February. It was during their T20 World Cup clash against Ireland on February 13, when the auction for the first edition was held. “I do not know if it was a challenge last year — it was something new to consider as a group — this year it will be lot simpler having done it before. Our attention will be on the game as much as possible,” she said.