Harmanpreet Kaur capped an excellent tour – her first since being named as India’s ODI captain – with a superb show at Pallekele on Thursday. Her 75 off 88 balls helped the side finish with a score that was good enough to ensure that India swept the ODI series against Sri Lanka 3-0.
She was named the player of the match and the series. She was also the player of the three-match T20I series, which India won 2-1.
Harmanpreet certainly seems to enjoy captaincy. She believes that is because of the support she gets from her players.
“I should give credit to all my teammates,” she said. “They have been doing well whenever given opportunities and have been coming up with great ideas. Because of them, I was able to enjoy (captaincy).”
Harmanpreet said the team was determined to win Thursday’s encounter, as there had been a tendency to lose the last match of a series. “We had a discussion about losing the final match in a series and decided that we should put in a little more extra effort,” she said. “You tend to relax a bit in the last match after winning back-to-back games.”
About giving her part-time bowlers more overs, she said she wanted the players to contribute in any way possible, and not just in the primary roles assigned to them. She also praised the way the Indian seamers responded to the task she gave them.