India captain Harmanpreet Kaur reacts after being given out. Photo: Star
India’s women’s team skipper Harmanpreet Kaur was criticised by India’s 1983 World Cup winner Madan Lal and former women’s team captain Anjum Chopra following her words during post-match presentations following the tied third ODI against Bangladesh. The series ended 1-1 with Harmanpreet criticising the umpiring heavily.
During the match, when she had been given out following a nick, Kaur proceeded to hit the stumps with her bat before pointing fingers at the two on-field umpires.
Local media reported that when both teams were attending a photo session, Kaur shouted “bring the umpires too”, apparently suggesting they were part of the Bangladesh squad.
She then complained heavily regarding the umpiring in the post-match presentations.
“I think a lot of learning for us from the game. Even apart from the cricket, the kind of umpiring that was happening we were very surprised. The next time when we come to Bangladesh, we will make sure we have to deal with this type of umpiring and prepare ourselves accordingly.
“As I mentioned earlier some pathetic umpiring was done and we are really disappointed about some decisions given by the umpires,” she had said at the post-match presentations.
“Harmanpreet’s behaviour against the Bangladesh women’s team was pathetic. She is not bigger than the game. She got a very bad name for Indian cricket. BCCI should take very strict disciplinary action,” Madan posted on Twitter.
Anjum, who represented India in 157 matches (12 Tests, 127 ODIs and 18 T20Is), 41 of those as captain, talked about the remarks Kaur made.
Asked whether Kaur should have been more careful with what she said, Anjum felt that the skipper could have handled the situation better.
“When the aggression goes away and she becomes calm I’m sure she would look back and agree that she needed to be more careful in showing her disagreement. There’s no harm in voicing your displeasure, but it’s how and when you do it. She should have been more selective with her choice of words too, Anjum said in an interview with Hindustan Times.
“There was no snickometer or ball-tracking, so it’s a bit difficult to judge. But if they (the Indian team) felt a few decisions did not go their way, could things have been handled better? Why did it come down to the Indian captain going to the post-match presentation and voicing her displeasure? It could have been communicated in a better way. How did the situation scale up to this? The Indian team not playing up to the mark can be a cause of their disappointment but that could have been kept within the dressing room,” Anjum added.
