‘Whatever we have done, it is within the rules’ - Harmanpreet Kaur on Deepti Sharma’s run out of Charlotte Dean

The India Women’s team went down 1-2 in the three-match T20I series in England earlier this month, before redeeming themselves with a thumping 3-0 clean sweep in the ODIs. It was the team’s first ODI series win in England in 23 years, and ensured a fitting farewell for the legendary Jhulan Goswami.

However, it has been the unusual (controversial to some) conclusion of the third ODI at Lord’s on Saturday, September 24, that has got the most attention. Deepti Sharma ran Charlotte Dean out for backing up too far at the non-striker’s end, with the dismissal prompting intense debates and discussion thereafter.

Harmanpreet Kaur, the India Women captain, feels that there has been enough talk on the incident already, and maintained that the dismissal is within the laws of cricket.

"We have already discussed a lot on Deepti Sharma's run out of Charlie Dean. I don't think we have to keep discussing things again and again. Whatever happened, has happened. I am very happy with the performance of the team,” said Harmanpreet.

 "We were noticing these things (England batter leaving the crease at non-striker's end before the ball is bowled) from the last couple of games. She (Dean) was taking a long stride. She was taking an undue advantage. I think it was her (Deepti) awareness that she pulled it off. It was not in our plan to get her out like that. You are on the ground and you want to win at every cost. It was within the rules and we are happy with the result. There is enough discussion on this matter.”

Harmanpreet was highly satisfied with the team’s overall performance on the tour, and asked for her players to maintain consistency going forward.

"When we went to England, at that time we were looking to play good cricket. We were not putting unnecessary pressure on ourselves,” she said. “We knew our job at hand and everything was planned. We were working on something and we did not think about creating history. We were just going through our plans. When you have plans and you are working towards something, results will automatically come. We knew if we keep doing the good work, results will come."

In a two-decade long highly accomplished career, Jhulan Goswami inspired the rise of women’s cricket in India, and gave the sport and the country plenty to be proud of.

📝 @GedeRoshan #ENGvsINDhttps://t.co/8FN9PoQsuL

— CricXtasy (@CricXtasy) September 25, 2022

India Women’s next assignment is the Women’s Asia Cup 2022 to be played in Sylhet, Bangladesh, beginning Saturday, October 1, and Harmanpreet views the competition as a great preparation opportunity in the build up to the Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa next year.

"Our first target will be to give enough chances to other players who have not got so far,” said Harmanpreet. “And we want to work on a lot of areas as a team. Especially, how to use the first six overs and if somebody can come and spend some time in the middle in the first six overs, we will try to change our batting order so that other batters could also get some time. In the last overs also, we will try and give them enough chances. We will try different team combinations. This is an important tournament for us and it gives a chance to other players who can come and perform. If you perform here, you can get a lot of confidence for the World Cup.”

India will begin their Women’s Asia Cup 2022 campaign against Sri Lanka at the Sylhet Outer Cricket Stadium on Saturday.