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T20 World Cup 2024 – Harmanpreet Kaur is about to end India’s No. 3 roulette

The “mystery” surrounding India’s No. 3 out of the box. The answer to the puzzle that Amol Muzumdar, the head coach, has been tight-lipped about now will be Harmanpreet Kaur.

“Of course. Not just the preparation games, but we had already decided to return to India, in the camps that took place before we went to the World Cup,” said Muzumdar before India’s first match on Friday against New Zealand. “We had a great camp in Bangalore. We were determined to be there ourselves. These pre-World Cup matches have completely reinforced that.

“Is it surprising? No. If you can guess, you can go through the cards and you will find them.”

Yastika is back from a knee injury and is in the UAE squad. But now it looks like he has to wait for his chance. Harmanpreet batted No.3 in both warm-ups for India, scoring 10 and 1. But that, it seems, was not important in the grand scheme of things.

It can be seen that the reason behind this decision is to give Harmanpreet the best chance to be able to increase his power play once he is set. In the case where he hits, four or five, Harmanpreet has found himself playing catch up; the obvious proof is his strike rate of 94.09 in 84 T20 innings from 2022.

Since Muzumdar took over, four others have been tried there. Among them, Dayalan Hemalatha’s was the longest-running experiment. But in seven games, he managed to score only 139 runs, 41 of which came in one innings. Sajeevan Sajana and Uma Chetry were the others who were tried for a while.

Muzumdar could turn to Jemimah Rodrigues if needed, but her ability to control spin makes her key at No. 4 or 5. The line of thought is that Rodriguez, the contact player. he may find it easier to choose spaces in the fields that are spread out.

The sample size is small, but Rodriguez is hitting 143.81 in 10 innings at No. 5, marked improvement to 110.19 in No. However, Rodriguez himself is working on “first-ball batting” as the next step in his evolution as a T20 batsman.

The WPL has given us a solid base for recruiting players

Muzumdar spoke about the strength of the Indian team while stressing how key players playing backups are given specific roles. Like Sajana, who developed her reputation as an X-factor performer, she was sent on an ‘A’ trip to Australia to “tick some boxes” as part of her development.

“I think it was a collective effort not only from the Indian team or the Indian team but also from the NCA,” Muzumdar said. “We were in complete agreement with the coaches present when they visited India A in Australia. [We’ve] they had ongoing discussions, feedback was given even after the visit.

“I think we are trying to legitimize a lot of things. Apart from the Indian team as I said, India A. [setup] it is also important for us to get a lot of players, and the strength of the bench is strong. We have seen the results.

“Some of the players who made it to the Indian team here at the World Cup are WPL products. [domestic] cricketers at home. But the WPL has given us a solid base to find players.”

One of the players who improved her reputation thanks to WPL is Shreyanka Patil. The allrounder was the top wicket-taker during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s run to the title earlier this year, including a stellar 4 for 12 in the final.

Shreyanka is only 12 T20Is old but has already been identified as a bowler who can create angles, like her fast bowling teammates, from around the stumps. With his versatility of pace, he has also shown a penchant for bowling in all phases of the game.

Another player who accelerated his journey on the WPL route is Radha Yadav, who found himself in the cold for more than a year after the last match in South Africa. As did S Asha, the legspinner, another RCB recruit, who made his debut in April in Bangladesh.

The WPL also contributes to high levels of fitness, with close monitoring and off-season camps where physios continue to monitor players and have an agreement with the NCA with the Player Monitoring System (AMS) designed to provide signals on player load and map performance.

The result of all this, apart from basic skills, is high levels of performance, something Muzumdar emphasized as very important when he took over last December.

“We worked for you,” said Mzumdar. “We went deep into it and tried to work individually, first in terms of volume in terms of performance. Then in terms of intensity we focus on each individual to take their fitness levels to the next level.

“So, I think we’ve put in that effort. The effort has been there. I think you’re definitely going to see the results.”

Shashank Kishore is senior junior editor at ESPNcricinfo


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