India's duty to take women’s cricket forward: Harmanpreet Kaur ahead of England Test

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur on Wednesday said Team India will have to take the lead if women’s cricket is to have more Tests in the future.

Kaur made the comments on the eve of the one-off Test between India and England that takes place at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai starting Thursday, 14 December.

It will be India’s first Test in two years, having played one each against England and Australia in 2021, and their first at home since the one-off match against South Africa in Mysore in 2014.

“Talking about women’s cricket, it is improving day-by-day In India. A lot of people are coming to watch the match which we saw in the last T20Is,” Kaur told reporters on the eve of the Test.

“Everyone in the world…they want to play in India. In India, things are changing quickly when it comes to cricket. A lot of people are extending their love and we are also trying to improve. We have an opportunity to take women’s cricket as high as we can.

“I know that a lot hinges on the Indian cricket team when it comes to women’s cricket. The way the approach is changing in India concerning women’s cricket, obviously, we have a lot in our hands,” Kaur added.

With India making a return to the Test arena after September 2021, Kaur said as players they desire to appear in more long-format matches but the administrators have to make the final call.

“As players we want to play more and more Test games. It is ICC and (the) board’s call to take up,” she said.

Kaur said she was feeling better after twisting her foot in the third T20I against England.

“There was a little bit of soreness but I am feeling better now,” Kaur said.

Kaur said the switch between white and the red-ball formats, given there was only a three-day break between the T20Is and the Test, would be challenging for the players.

“I know, after (playing) white-ball cricket it will be a little challenging. The bowling unit got 10-15 days to prepare. They understood how the red ball behaves. As batting and bowling units we have tried to cover up as much as we could,” she said.

INDW vs ENGW Preview: Kaur and Co rely on spin strength as Test cricket returns

Kaur said changing the mindset quickly would be beneficial.

“We want to play positive cricket and that is something that we have discussed in the team meeting as well. It is all about (the) mind game.

We cannot keep thinking that we played a Test match two years ago and some girls are new in the side. The only change is that the (colour of) the ball has changed but the approach will be the same,” she said.

“The field placements and bowling can be attacking and we have discussed about winning the sessions too. Hopefully, whatever we have prepared in the last two days, we will be able to execute it in the middle,” she said.

Kaur admitted to feeling butterflies in the stomach’ as this will be the first time she would be leading the country in Tests.

“Butterflies are always there, no matter how much you have played. There is always excitement and nervousness when you go to the ground. When you play one ball, you get totally involved in the game,” she said.

“(The) last Test I missed because of injury and this time there is an opportunity to lead the team. The talk has been about being positive and playing with excitement,” Kaur added.

With domestic stalwart Amol Muzumdar in charge as head coach, Kaur said his message to the players has been simple stick with their respective games.

“The best thing he said was, go with your best batting style and don’t think about changing it because it is red-ball cricket,” she said.

“If you are an aggressive batter, play aggressively. If you like to build your innings, then do that. You need not think about too many things,” she added.

One-off Test huge unknown’ for both teams: Heather Knight

England captain Heather Knight, meanwhile, felt that the upcoming one-off Test will be a “huge unknown” for both teams and that playing with the right mindset will be crucial for both teams.

Indian women’s outfit has not lost a Test at home since 1995 and away since 2006 will offer a massive challenge to the visitors, but the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side has not played red-ball cricket for the last two years.

However, Knight did not read too much into the non-familiarity factor.

“I think it is a huge unknown for both the teams. Obviously, playing multi-format for the Indian girls as well, they have not really done it here for a long time. So yes, it’s hugely exciting any time we get to don the whites,” Knight told the media ahead of England’s training session on Wednesday.

England will be hitting the milestone 100th Tests but the skipper was not aware of the record.

“I had no idea, actually. That is quite a cool stat. I think playing a Test match in India is (in the) bucket list for any cricketer and it’s really cool that we get the opportunity to do that,” she replied.

“I absolutely love playing Test cricket. I’ve got some of the best memories in an England shirt playing in the whites. (It is) super cool that we get to play here and it’s going to be a real tough challenge and one the team is really excited for,” she said.

Knight acknowledged that there will be some anxiety in the camp but would draw inspiration from the quick turnaround between the Test and T20I series last year.

“It is a really quick turnaround and we do not play Test cricket very often. Naturally, there’s bound to be more anxiety and worry and stress around the group just because it’s purely something we don’t play very often,” she said.

“But we have done it before. We did it in 2022 in Canberra where we had two days to prep after the T20 series because of the condensed nature of the series due to COVID. We have talked about having done it before and in my experience getting your mindset is really important.

Knight emphasised on having the right mindset as there was only a three-day gap between the conclusion of the recent T20I series and this match.

“You can’t change your game and prep too much in two days. It’s just getting clear on how you want to go about things, how you want to play, how you’re going to score runs, how you’re going to take wickets and being in the right spot and trusting that you’ll adapt out there,” she said.

“There’s obviously little fine-tuning you can do and we’ve had a group of players that have only been in the Test squad as well that have been focused purely on red-ball crickets, that’s been quite handy.”

Red ball training ✅

Watch @katecross16 in the nets, taking us through her training session