It was a tough call: Harmanpreet on dropping Shikha Pandey from Team India

Indian eves ODI vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur clarified that Shikha Pandey, the senior pace woman of the Indian team has not been selected in the squad to face South Africa because the management wanted to give chance to younger players. 

“I know it was a tough call, sometimes, you need to give chance to other players,” said Harmanpreet said in a press conference. 

The T20 skipper further went on to clarify that Shikha, 31, has not been dropped, rather it is the plan of the management to get to a settle combination before important matches start. 

“She is not dropped...sometimes you need to take chances, after this tournament, we will be able to settle our combination as we have a lot of cricket coming up in the next two-three years,” she said. 

Talking about the upcoming series, Harmanpreet said there is no rustiness in the side despite the prolonged time away from the game and they will look to regain their confidence with a good performance against South Africa.

Harmanpreet, 31, would be playing her 100th match. Asked about the achievement, the Punjab born said that she was not aware of it. 

“I didn’t know that (100th ODI). I will be very excited because first of all we are playing after a long time and then it is my 100th ODI so, both things will give me a lot of energy to play and I hope to do well,” she said.

The Indian women’s team would play their first match against the visiting South Africa side on 7th March at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.