NEW DELHI: Leading the Indian team for the first time in Tests, Harmanpreet Kaur on Saturday credited head coach Amol Muzumdar for taking crucial decisions, admitting she lacked the experience of leading in the longest format.
The Indian women’s team crushed England by a record 347 runs in seven sessions in the one-off Test in Navi Mumbai. The win was India’s first against England at home.
Harmanpreet, who made her Test debut in 2014 has been leading India in the white-ball formats but the England Test it was her first assignment as captain in the red-ball format.
“Our coach helped us a lot, I had zero experience in leading the team in Test,” Harmanpreet told the media after the massive win.
“I was trusting his (Muzumdar’s) decisions — be it sending Shubha (Satheesh) at one-down in the first innings or whatever ideas he gave in bowling, like the first 40 minutes were important today, the idea was to put them (England) in early and utilise the morning conditions,” she said.
“His experience really helped us and it also gave me time to decide what was the best for the team,” Harmanpreet added.
She said India were able to execute all their plans and set the tone with their fielding, which proved decisive for the hosts as they now prepare to take on Australia in another one-off Test next week.
“Everything went according to the plan. We got the score that we wanted and the bowlers did a good job, both medium pacers and spinners knew their plans and performed accordingly,” she said.
“The biggest positive was our fielding, especially in a long game when you have to field for 90 overs (in a day) it is very important to maintain the energy. We managed to set the tone with our fielding,” Harmanpreet added.
She said that India relied heavily on their batting experience in the first innings to formulate bowling and fielding plans, which saw England being shot out for 136 and 131 in the two innings.
“We do not have much experience playing Test cricket to determine what sort of field placements can help where. The more you bat, the more you would understand what fields to set for your bowlers,” Harmanpreet said.
“The credit (also) goes to the bowlers, whatever fields they were given they bowled according to that. Your job becomes easier when your bowlers can bowl in the right spots,” she added.
Harmanpreet praised India debutant Shubha for her 69-run knock in the first innings while again mentioning Muzumdar’s role in it.
“Shubha gave us a very good start — that was also our coach’s decision, during the practice game at the NCA, he saw her batting and taking the game ahead,” she said.
“He said, ‘if we can send her at one-down she can give us a solid start’ and she did it the way we were expecting from her,” Harmanpreet added.
The India skipper said there would be no change in India’s approach in the one-off Test against Australia from December 21-24 at the Wankhede Stadium next week.
“The wicket (at Wankhede) is a little different to this one. We have two to three days to train and see how the pitch is and accordingly we can take the decisions. But we will go with the same approach — we will look to win,” she said.
Harmanpreet heaped praise on bowling coach Troy Cooley, saying that Indian bowlers have a lot of trust on the former Australia and England men’s team coach.
“Whenever we get an opportunity to work with him, he motivates us always, especially the bowlers, which areas to bowl and their line and lengths,” Harmanpreet said.
“The bowlers also trust him and his decisions. Whatever decisions he is taking for them, they are trusting him and they are able to execute the plans he is making for them,” she added.
“You need a person you can trust — especially a coach — and they are trusting his ideas and plans,” Harmanpreet said.
(With inputs from PTI)