Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur is a liability for Indian women’s cricket
No malice, this. The performance, or the lack of it, and the insipid leadership skills of Harmanpreet Kaur continues to haunt the Indian team like an unending bad dream. At the ongoing ICC World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, Harmanpreet has flopped. Worse, she lacks imagination as captain, what with India suffering two massive defeats, to South Africa and Australia, in succession.
On Sunday, it was a high-stakes contest. There were runs as well as ruins for India, and Harmanpreet needs to look inwards. Sample this, at one end of the spectrum, the Indian men’s cricket team is churning. Someone like Rohit Sharma, who has won India two big trophies and was even leader of the side at the ICC World Cup which finished runner-up in 2023, gets the boot. At the same time, Virat Kohli, the masters of all formats of cricket, is questioned. Carping critics scream, “Ask him to retire.”
How come there is so much disparity between the men’s and women's Indian cricket teams, where Harmanpreet gets so much ropeway. Anyone who has followed Indian women’s cricket will vouch, she is past prime and her captaincy sucks. This is not the first time she has let the team down. On Sunday, what transpired was crazy. As has been a pattern, she has not scored runs herself, be it even on tracks which are feather beds. Harmanpreet cannot set an example. Going by former skipper and legend MS Dhoni’s statements, that a captain should first be a performer, Harmanpreet Kaur wont even make it to the playing 11.
At 36, Harmanpreet is past prime. Her runs have dried up, she is unable to motivate the national side, and her tactical decisions are questionable. Is it not weird, India lost the last six wickets for 36 runs against Australia. Imagine, squandering the position of command. Such a collapse was crazy where Harmanpreet scored only 22 runs. It may have looked impressive when India were cruising at 294 for 5 in the 43rd over. Then came the collapse like a house of cards, wickets falling one by one. In the end, India managed just 330.
These days, totals in excess of 300 are no longer safe in an ODI, be it men’s cricket or women’s cricket. And what a chase the Aussies mastered, where opener Alyssa Healy shredded the Indian attack to score 142 runs off 137 runs. There was no plan from Harmanpreet to shackle Healy. All this goes against the skipper and the Indian team, which is now in trouble in the World Cup.
If one had heard the pearls of wisdom from Indian coach Amol Muzumdar, it was worse. “According to me, finishing is extremely important in cricket,” said Muzumdar. He was talking of two losses in a row. “I always say in the dressing room that while a good start matters, a better finish wins you games. Against South Africa, we lost in the last five overs while bowling, and today, maybe 20 more runs could have changed things,” he added. All this reflects a mindset which is not positive. Coach Muzumdar has no clue what is going on, which makes it a calamity of sorts with the skipper also not in command.
When the coach spoke in praise of the Aussies and how they are good finishers and better at handling pressure, he had given it away. This Indian team lacks direction, though a few changes will be made here and there. To bounce back from two losses will require a lot of drive. Above all, with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur not performing, she is liability for Indian cricket.
