‘Gave freedom and backed myself to play all shots’: Harmanpreet Kaur after scoring 143* off 111

New Delhi: India has already won the ODI series against England, thanks to captain Harmanpreet Kaur’s 143* of 111 balls that helped the team to be 2-0 ahead. Kaur smashed her second-highest ODI score, while Renuka Thakur took four wickets to register an 88-run victory. After the game, Harmanpreet talked about batting freely after reaching the 50-run mark and spoke about her remarkable inning.

Talking about her inning and the 113-run partnership with Harleen Deol, Kaur said, “When I was batting, it was not easy to bat on since my fifty. I took my time and when Harleen came in and played her part. That was very important. Then I gave that freedom to myself as I was well-settle and backed myself to play all the shots.”

Talking about Renuka’s bowling, the captain said that she gives the team the required breakthroughs and the side depends a lot on her. She added that whoever got the chance with the ball, provided a breakthrough. In the game, India used eight bowlers and Deepti Sharma picked a crucial wicket and even Shafali Verma picked one along with Dayalan Hemlatha’s two dismissals.

Harmanpreet also reminisced about her 115-ball-171* against Australia in the 2017 World Cup. Talking about Jhulan Goswami, who will be playing her last ODI at Lord’s, Kaur said, “We will miss her for sure and have been learning a lot from her. Every cricketer wants to play at Lord’s and it is going to be special for her to retire there.”

In the match, India posted 333/5 after Smriti Mandhana, scored 40(51) and Yastika Bhatia gave a good start. Kaur’s 143* and Harleen Deol’s 58(72) were the crucial inning in the middle. Harmanpreeet gave a good finish by hitting 43 off just 11 balls in the death. After Tammy Beaumont was run out by Kaur, Renuka struck twice to land England to 47/3. Danni Wyatt posted a fight with her 65(58) but India’s part-timers did the trick.

The third and the last ODI will be played at Lord’s on September 24. This will also mark the end of the International career for India’s pace legend Jhulan Goswami.