Former India Women’s captain Diana Edulji has lambasted current T20I skipper Harmanpreet Kaur over her poor form with the bat in the shortest format. Edulji said that Harmanpreet can’t survive on the 171 she made during the 2017 World Cup semi-final, and it’s time to drop her from the playing XI.
Notably, Harmanpreet has made only two 50 plus scores since the 2017 World Cup in England, where India reached the final. Edulji mentioned that the yardsticks for all players should be the same while referring to Jemimah Rodrigues, who was recently dropped for the ongoing New Zealand series and the upcoming Women’s World Cup in March due to poor form.
“If you are going with the same yardstick which was used to drop Jemimah Rodrigues, what the coach (Ramesh Powar) had mentioned, the same yardstick should be applied to Harmanpreet,” said Edulji as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
“I am very disappointed with her. She was my favourite player, but you can’t survive on that one innings. She is only one innings away from a big knock, but the effort has to be there. I will be the happiest if she proves me wrong. I just want the team to win the [ODI] World Cup [starting in New Zealand next month],” she added.
Edulji further reckoned that opening batter Smriti Mandhana should take over India captaincy across all three formats after Mithali Raj.
As per several reports, Mithali is all set to retire after the Women’s World Cup next month.
“Even on captaincy front, Smriti is the front-runner for all formats after Mithali as Harman is not performing. I wouldn’t mind dropping her for the next game. Sneh Rana is a good replacement for her,” Edulji explained.
