MUMBAI: In a major blow for the Indian women’s team ahead of their ODI series against England, vice captain Harmanpreet Kaur has been ruled out of the series due to an injury in her left ankle.
India’s explosive batswoman picked up the injury few days ago when she was in Patiala. Harmanpreet, however, came to Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday and took part in fielding practice to assess the condition of her injury. The batswoman was not comfortbale while running and after scans it was revealed that Harmanpreet has a grade-2 tear in the left ankle.
Bowling all-rounder Harleen Deol will replace Harmanpreet in the one-day team, which is captained by Mithali Raj. Harleen plays for Himachal Pradesh in the domestic circuit and she had played an important role in helping Himachal Pradesh reach the semi-final of the inter-state 50-over competition in December last year, ANI reported.
She performed well in the Challenger Trophy earlier this year and was in Board President’s XI side in the warm-up game against England.
The ODI series will be played on February 22, 25 and 28 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The series is a part of the ICC Women’s Championship.
India are currently third on the table with 12 points from as many games and it is highly unlikely that the home side would play against Pakistan, which means India need to win the series in order to avoid qualifiers ahead of the 2021 World Cup in New Zealand.
On the other hand, England are at seventh place on the points table with ten points from nine games.
It is to be noted that Harmanpreet failed to perform to her potential in the recent series against New Zealand, where India won the three-match ODI series 2-1. But New Zealand defeated India in all three T20I matches to even the honours.
