Pressure on Harmanpreet to engineer batting turnaround in T20s

India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur can be aiming to beat her extended type droop and supply a much-needed increase to the struggling batting line-up within the opening T20 International towards formidable hosts England right here on Friday.
England lead the multi-format sequence 6-4 after a drawn Test and a 2-1 score-line in ODIs.
Barring Mithali Raj’s outstanding consistency in ODIs, the Indian batting was a disappointment and it’s one thing that the staff would wish to appropriate within the three T20s.
India’s prime two performers in ODIs — Mithali and Jhulan Goswami — will probably be seeing the motion from the sidelines.
Harmanpreet, who has not scored a fifty within the shortest format since November 2018, should lead from the entrance.
Both the openers — Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana — are in good contact however the staff is anticipating extra consistency from them, particularly from the vice-captain.
The standout performer of the tour — Sneh Rana — is ready to play her first T20 since February 2016.
Richa Ghosh, one other 17-year-old within the staff alongside Shafali, can also be more likely to function within the taking part in eleven having carried out effectively within the residence sequence towards South Africa.
The Indian batters have been responsible of consuming too many dot balls in ODIs however it’s one thing they will’t afford to do within the shortest format.
“Since the ODIs, the focus in the nets has been on strike rotation, variations of pace bowlers and playing situations. The bowling and fielding showed big improvement but the batters need to step up. Hopefully, they will,” a BCCI official informed PTI.
India are but to see the pitch as they’ve been coaching in Leicester however no matter the situations, they might want to publish no less than 150 to problem a staff like England.
Besides Deepti Sharma and Rana, India have a 3rd all-rounder choice in pacer Simaran Dil Bahadur, who made her debut towards South Africa.
England, however, have introduced again opener Danni Wyatt for the T20s following her good run in home cricket.
She is ready to open alongside Tammy Beaumont within the absence of Lauren Winfield-Hill.
Medium pacer Kate Cross, who took a five-wicket haul in the course of the ODIs, isn’t a part of the T20 squad.
“We’ve performed some good cricket throughout each the Test and the ODIs and we’ve named a powerful squad for the T20I sequence. It’s 6-4 within the multi-format sequence and it’s a sequence we’re pushing exhausting to win.
“We probably weren’t quite at our best in the third ODI so I’d like us to hit the ground running in the first T20I and be ruthless,” mentioned England head coach Lisa Keightley.
Teams (from):
India: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain) Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, Harleen Deol, Sneh Rana, Taniya Bhatia, Indrani Roy, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav, Simaran Dil Bahadur.
England: Heather Knight (captain), Tammy Beaumont, Katherine Brunt, Freya Davies, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Tash Farrant, Sarah Glenn, Amy Jones, Nat Sciver, Anya Shrubsole, Mady Villiers, Fran Wilson, Danni Wyatt.