Vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur will not be able to play in the leagues

The vice-captain, who missed the 2nd ODI too against Australia due to an injury under the pump after the marauding Aussies kicked nine wickets in the first ODI, the beleaguered India women’s team will continue to struggle with the absence of Harmanpreet Kaur when they host the hosts in the second ODI on Friday at the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay on Friday.

India’s vice-captain and star bat has still not recovered from a thumb injury she suffered ahead of the warm-up match a few days back. “She’s not fit and is unavailable for the next game,” India women’s batting coach Shiv Sunder Das said in a virtual presser on Thursday.

It has been a forgettable year for India’s T20I captain, which has seen her grapple with fitness issues all along. A groin injury forced her to miss the T20I series against South Africa in March. Even as she was recovering from it, the 32-year-old tested positive for Covid-19. Before the tour Down Under, she was forced to cut short her stint in ‘The Hundred’ in England after just three innings due to a quadricep injury.

“What’s wrong with Harmanpreet? She’s suffered a spate of injuries in the past year. If she’s so prone to injuries, then why is she playing in The Hundred and WBBL? You should give your body enough rest so that you can play for India. By playing in all these tournaments in between, she’s achieving nothing. She should be prevailed upon by the BCCI to skip playing in these leagues before an India series, even if it means compensating her monetarily for it. She’s a supremely fit athlete, but she’s getting injured repeatedly, which is hurting the cause of Indian women’s cricket,” former India women’s captain and BCCI Apex Council member Shanta Rangaswamy told TOI.

Indeed, the 67-year-old, who played16 Tests and19 ODIs for India, has raised a pertinent point regarding the ‘workload management’ of India’s elite women’s cricket players. “The BCCI must ensure that our players are at their peak fitness while playing for India even if that means that they’re not allowed to go and play in the foreign T20 leagues. Harmanpreet is missing many international matches due to injuries,” stressed Rangaswamy.

She felt that India needed the firepower of Harmanpreet to beat a top side like Australia. “We should conserve such players’ energies for India. She’s the only player, who if she fires, who can give you big scores,” Rangaswamy said.