‘Already Decided!’: India Coach Announces Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur to Bat at No.3 in Women's T20 WC

Starting their ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 against New Zealand in an exciting clash at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, the Indian Women's squad is Under Harmanpreet Kaur, India is determined to atone for failing in past editions when it made it into the final in 2020 but failed to claim the crown. The squad promises an intriguing competition full of outstanding performances as it combines youth and experience.

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India coach Amol Muzumdar confirms Harmanpreet Kaur will bat as No. 3.

Confirming that captain Harmanpreet Kaur would take up the post, Amol Muzumdar, head coach of India's women's team, has cleared the long-standing controversy about the No. 3 batting position. The Women in Blue had been testing many players in that position without a clear decision leading up the competition.

From the opening slot to the lower order, Harmanpreet has expertise batting in all places in T20I cricket. Over 100 games, nevertheless, her career has seen her shine at number four. She came to define herself in that capacity as well as a major contributor for the Mumbai Indians in the Women's Premier League (WPL).

Harmanpreet has scored 298 runs with an average of 21.28 in T20Is, batting at number three on eighteen occasions. Her last visit to this post was after the Women's T20 World Cup , when she hit 13 runs off 20 balls against Ireland at Gqeberha. During the pre-match press conference,  Amol Muzumdar said: 

"Absolutely, not just the warm-up games, but we had already decided back in India and in the camps that happened before we set off from Mumbai. We had a lovely camp in Bangalore, and we decided there. Basically, these pre-World Cup matches absolutely stamped that for us. Go through the scorecard, you’ll find out,”

“We’ve paid a lot of attention to the sixth bowling option. Also, for a fact that we have had multiple discussions within our top six, at least three to four have to bowl. If we can get those overs out of them, then nothing like it," 

"All of them could bowl. So, it’s just a question of applying and just putting in those hard yards in the nets and then converting that into a match performance. So, Harman hasn’t bowled, but she bowled in the second T20 warm-ups and is experienced enough to bowl those overs,” 

Batting at No. 3 in Team India's recent warm-up successes over South Africa and the West Indies respectively, Harmanpreet Kaur achieved scores of 10 and 1.

Particularly in the early Asia Cup rounds and the home series against South Africa, Dayalan Hemalatha mostly occupied the No. 3 place. As the squad was rotated, individuals like Uma Chetry and Sajeevan Sajana also had opportunity to bat higher up the order.

Although Jemimah Rodrigues has also tried her hand at the No. 3 position, she has found a comfortable niche at No. 5 where she has concentrated on improving her power-hitting ability.