Indian ladies’s ODI group vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur on Friday stated it was a “tough call” to depart veteran pacer Shikha Pandey out of the upcoming limited-overs collection towards South Africa and insisted that she has not been dropped for good.
The Indian ladies’s group will play 5 ODIs and three T20Is towards South Africa, beginning right here on Sunday, which can mark the group’s return to aggressive cricket after virtually 12 months.
Pandey’s omission from the ODI and T20 groups for the South Africa collection created fairly a flutter. She was the India’s second highest wicket-taker of their earlier project — the T20 World Cup.
“I know it was a tough call, sometimes, you need to give chance to other players,” stated Harmanpreet, who’s the captain of India’s T20 group, throughout a digital press convention forward of the primary ODI on Sunday.
“She is not dropped…sometimes you need to take chances, after this tournament we will be able to settle our combination as we have a lot of cricket coming up in next 2-3 years.”
The 31-year-old Pandey has performed 52 ODIs and 50 T20 Internationals for India, taking 73 and 36 wickets respectively.
Talking in regards to the upcoming collection, Harmanpreet stated there is no such thing as a rustiness within the aspect regardless of the extended time away from the sport and they’ll look to regain their confidence with efficiency towards South Africa.
“I don’t think we are feeling any rustiness, we are very exited, I know it is a long break, sometimes things are not in your control. I hope we will have a great tournament,” she stated.
“Every tournament is important, and definitely South Africa is one team which has done very well in last couple of years and for upcoming tournaments, it is an advantage for us to play well against them and regain our confidence since we are playing after a long time.”
Asked if the group goes into the collection with an unsettled squad, Harmanpreet stated: “Before this collection, we bought 4-5 days to set our mixtures. We had open nets, we tried some mixtures. Before the primary sport, we’ll repair what must be mounted.
“We will see how we will go about things, what to do with our batting and bowling line up, how to set our playing XI.”
Harmanpreet will full a century of ODIs on Sunday and she or he stated it is going to solely inspire her to do higher.
“I didn’t know that (100th ODI). I will be very excited because first of all we are playing after a long time and then it is my 100th ODI so, both the things will give me a lot of energy to play and I hope to do well,” she stated.
“If I talk as a person, I have learnt a lot (in the last decade). I have seen lots of ups and downs, when I was in good frame of mind, I was playing good cricket, sometimes form was here and there. Whatever experience I have, I want to share with my team and hope it helps my team to treat downfall.”
Harmanpreet hasn’t been in a position to rating a fifty in any format within the final 10 matches since February final yr.
“As a player, it doesn’t matter if you haven’t played cricket for long but you want to perform for the team whenever you get an opportunity,” she stated.
Asked if this break can be a loss for Indian ladies’s cricket in comparison with Australia and England, who’ve been taking part in commonly, Harmanpreet stated: “It was a long break but sometimes things are not under your control, now we are getting to play cricket and we have to ensure we use this time and make our best combination and prepare for the upcoming tournaments.”
