Kanpur: Vice-captain of the Indian women’s cricket team Harman Preet Kaur has hoped that her side, consisting of some new faces, would perform better and use the opportunity of playing one-day and T-20 matches against visiting South Africa from March 7 as preparation for the forthcoming one-day World Cup.
Addressing media persons in a virtual press conference in Lucknow, Kaur said the visiting South African team is a well-settled team and is performing very well since the last couple of years. Against them, Indian team was appearing after a one-year layout. One-year break was enough time for Indian players as they were away from cricket.
“But we are lucky that after a break we are facing a strong team and hopefully this series would help us in settling the team and remove our shortcomings in preparation for future series and World Cup,” she added.
Replying to a question about new faces in the squad, the Indian vice-captain said, “New players must have the talent and they always give energy and positivity to the team. Their presence put senior players under pressure to perform better.”
Kaur stated that she had not played domestic cricket for a long time, therefore, she could not make any comment on new faces. However, at nets they showed their potential and impressed.
“During nets we are trying various combinations for the first match and in the series we would try more combinations to pick a strong team for the World Cup and other series,” she said, adding that the players had not played together since long and pre-match period members were establishing co-ordination and availing the opportunity.
When her attention was drawn that she was going to play her 100th one-day match, Kaur in a surprised tone thanked the reporter for reminding her and commented that “Harman Preet Kaur is lucky” .
“It would give me new energy and encouragement to play better and more matches,” she added.
Talking about her 10-year-old cricket journey, Kaur said in this period she had witnessed various ups and down and learned a lot. “Now I am sharing my experiences with team members so that they could overcome those conditions. Ups and downs are part of life but as a player I have always enjoyed cricket. If someone enjoys cricket then most of the time he/she performs very well,” the Indian vice-captain said.