Team India captain Harmanpreet Kaur has stressed on the importance of test matches in the development of players. Harmanpreet Kaur guided India to an emphatic victory by 347 runs against England a few days back at the DY Patil Stadium in the one-off test.
Harmanpreet made her debut back in 2009 and has captained India in over 100 T20Is but played just 4 test matches until now. This explains how rarely women get to play test cricket. Harmanpreet elaborated on how playing more test matches will improve the quality of women’s cricket regarding skill sets as the demands of test cricket are completely different from that of the shorter formats.
We didn’t get that many opportunities in the Test format- Harmanpreet Kaur
Speaking to the media on Monday, Harmanpreet Kaur said,
“We didn’t get that many opportunities in the Test format when we were playing cricket, but hopefully the new generation will get many more games, especially if you talk about Tests because we have quite a busy schedule in T20Is and ODIs, but Test cricket is actually something that gives you a lot of patience and you can improve your skills. If we get more Tests, that will definitely help us as players,”
Good signs for Indian cricket- Indian Head Coach Amol Muzumdar
Indian Head Coach Amol Muzumdar has expressed his delight at the way the debutants performed in the one-off test against England. The newly appointed coach said he was impressed with the way the team has played against England.
He praised the youngsters, particularly the three debutants Shubha Satheesh, Renuka Thakur, and Jemimah Rodrigues for showing great character and performing extremely well in their first test match. Shubha Satheesh and Jemimah scored crucial fifties in the first innings helping India post a huge total of 428 on the board while Renuka Thakur showed her lethal skills with the new ball and kept the England batters on their feet.
Amol Muzumdar said,
“Good signs for Indian cricket. All of them who made their debut (Jemimah Rodrigues, Shubha Satheesh, and Renuka Thakur) batted and bowled well. England is a top side and these youngsters got a taste of what Test cricket is about,”
The Indian team will be hosting Australia at the Wankhede Stadium starting on 21 December. Harmanpreet Kaur will lead the team again. Team India might make a change or two. Shubha Satheesh was injured in the game against England and didn’t come to bat in the second innings and we might get to see another debut at the Wankhede.