IND-W vs AUS-W 2nd ODI: Harmanpreet Kaur unfit and unavailable, confirms India Women Batting Coach

Harmanpreet Kaur unfit and unavailable for 2nd ODI against Australia: All is not set for the Indian women team in Australia. The Indian vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur will miss the second ODI against Australia as confirmed by India women’s batting coach Shiv Sunder Das on Thursday. As per the coach, batter Harmanpreet Kaur is still not fit and hence will not feature in the second 50 over clash scheduled on September 24 in Mackay.

“I think right now she (Harmanpreet) is not fit and I think she is not available for the next game,” said Das while replying to an ANI query during a virtual pre-match press conference.

The 32-year old women cricketer didn’t play the opening ODI as well as she picked up the thumb injury ahead of the first ODI.

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Indian women, who faced a crushing defeat in the first ODI by nine wickets and nine overs to spare, aim to make a comeback in the upcoming contest. The batting coach talked about team India’s plans to get a good start, something the blue brigade failed to bridge up in the first ODI.

“I think we are looking at the top-order, and we are looking to have a good start. In terms of middle-order, we have really worked hard in terms of plans, we will look to execute it in tomorrow’s game. We are working on our batting aspect, we are looking at a good start, to begin with, and in terms of middle overs, we are looking to go at 5 runs per over and then six runs per over to achieve the target of 250,” he added.

The batting coach furthered that the Indian team is addressing yet another loophole of running between the wickets. Das is sure that the Indian girls will make a comeback and fire strongly.

“In the middle overs, the running between the wickets is an area we are working on. It is a work in progress, we have few young batters in our side and we need to give them some time, they will definitely fire,” he added.

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The batting coach very confident for second ODI, says, “we will see the difference”

Team India managed to register 225/8 in the first ODI courtesy of Mithali Raj’s knock of 61 runs and Richa Ghosh’s quick-fire 32 off 29. Besides, the rest of the line-up struggled to muster up runs.

Ahead of the second clash, the team is addressing the weaknesses and aims to come back stronger.

“We have identified a few areas, I had one to one chat with all the batters and tomorrow we will see the difference. I had one to one chat with Smriti Mandhana, we have worked in the nets. She is a world-class player and we are backing her ability,” said Das.