- विज्ञापन -
Mumbai: They have not played much red-ball cricket and are coming into the four-day one-off Test match against England with only two days of preparations, but India Women’s team captain Harmanpreet Kaur said they will play aggressive cricket despite their limitations. While India last played a Test match at home nine years ago and their last red-ball game was two years ago against Australia at the Carrara, Harmanpreet Kaur missed that match and thus will be making her debut as a captain.
Many of her teammates have not played multi-day cricket as the female cricketers don’t get to play red-ball cricket in the domestic circuit either. Thus red-ball cricket is an unknown commodity for many of them. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and her deputy Smriti Mandhana are the only ones in the current squad who have played red-ball cricket at home. However, despite all these facts, Harman said they would play aggressive cricket and go for a result.
“It’s all about the mindset. It is a big switch for us to straightaway play red-ball cricket after the T20I but we have discussed we will not change our batting style and play our natural game. My approach will be the same sort as in T20Is — attacking field placement, attacking, and bowling, but we will adapt according to the situation. We have discussed that we will have to take things as per session and we will try and win as many sessions as possible,” said the Indian skipper in her pre-match press conference at the DY Patil Stadium here on Thursday.
Harmanpreet said though her batters did not get many days to prepare for red-ball cricket, the bowling unit got a fortnight’s training. “As a team, we aim to play good cricket. After the white-ball series, it will be challenging but the bowling unit got 10-15 days to prepare for red-ball. Positive cricket. Reading the mind. The ball has changed but the approach will remain the same,” she said.
Harmanpreet is also banking on individual players to put up their hand and lead the charge for India — as has happened in recent Test matches for them
