Harmanpreet Kaur took the responsibility for the 50-overs format after the recent retirement of long-time skipper Mithali Raj.
Indian women’s team off-spinner Deepti Sharma feels the skipper Harmanpreet Kaur has the ability to stay calm in the middle over in terms of decision making.
In the first match as an ODI captain, the experienced Deepti Sharma produced an all-around show to take India for a four-wicket victory, following a tricky run-chase in the first ODI against Sri Lanka on Friday.
About Harmanpreet’s captaincy in the ODI format, Deepti said,
“She always stays cool, whether it’s T20 or one-dayers. She is leading the team very well. Staying calm helps in taking better decisions, and we are enjoying her captaincy as a team.”
Harmanpreet Kaur took the responsibility for the 50-overs format after the recent retirement of long-time skipper Mithali Raj.
Moving towards 123 for three, India nearly made a heavy scene of what looked a comfortable run-chase of 172 after Harmanpreet departed for good looking knock of 44, slipping to 138 for 6.
Deepti (22*) and Pooja Vastrakar (21*) played brilliantly to ensure India an easy victory with plenty of overs to spare.
This was Deepti’s excellent figures as he came back with 3/25.
“We knew how the wicket was behaving, and we worked hard on partnerships. Our plan was to take 3-4 runs per over and we knew that we could build on a partnership that way and finish the game quickly,”
Deepti said at the post-match press conference.
Deepti had been criticized for her slow batting skills but the all-rounder feels that she has developed new strokes to improvise her batting in the long run.
“I worked a lot on my batting and bowling both before the camp, also developed shots, and you all must have seen it here. My role remains the same, to finish games for the team, and the more I do that, the better it is for the team.
“We were losing wickets but my thought process was that I had to finish the game in the end. As a batting unit, we focussed on short partnerships and we achieved that in the game today.”