Eng vs Ind Women’s 1st T20I: Covid-19 and groin injury hampered tour preparation, says skipper Harmanpreet Kaur

 India skipper Harmanpreet Singh on Thursday attributed her prolonged lean patch with the bat to lack of preparation following her recovery from a Covid-19 infection and groin injury earlier this year.

Harmanpreet Kaur has not scored a fifty in the shortest format since November 2018. (Courtesy: AFP)

HIGHLIGHTS

• India will face England in the first T20I in Northampton
• Harmanpreet has not scored a fifty in T20I since November 2018
• Harmanpreet promises different approach in the T20 series
• India women T20 skipper Harmanpreet Kaur would be aiming to overcome her prolonged form slump and provide a much-needed boost to the struggling batting line-up in the opening T20 International against formidable hosts England in Northampton on Friday.

The skipper said that the longer-than-expected recovery from the groin injury she sustained in March, followed by her contracting Covid-19 later that month, affected her preparations leading up to India's ongoing tour of England.

"I am someone who likes to train everyday, who likes to work hard everyday but because of Covid-19 and injuries I didn't get that much time to prepare," Harmanpreet said in a virtual media conference on the eve of the first T20.

"These are not excuses but this is the reality which I faced. It's a matter of one good innings and definitely I will carry on from there," she added.

Since her trailblazing 171 not out against Australia in the 2017 World Cup semi-final, Harmanpreet has struggled to find her rhythm and has not scored an ODI century since then. In T20s, she's yet to score a fifty since her 103 against New Zealand in November 2018.

Harmanpreet scored 4 and 8 in the drawn one-off Test in Bristol last month, and followed up with 1, 19 and 16 in the ODI series that followed.

However, the senior batter is confident of finding her mojo back in the three-match T20 series against England.

"After the five innings I've understood, where and how to improve. You will definitely see a different approach from my side in the T20s. Right now, I'm feeling good, physically I'm fit but the only thing I need is some more time in the nets. That's all I can say,” said Harmanpreet Kaur.

"During this time, I got enough time to train. Now I'm quite confident and I'm ready to play these three matches,” added Harmanpreet.

Harmanpreet suffered the groin injury during the fifth and final ODI against South Africa on March 17, and missed the three-match T20I series that followed, with Smriti Mandhana leading the side in her absence.

“It was a Level-4 injury in my groin on the right side but then it shifted to left side as well, while playing matches because ODI is a long format," said Harmanpreet.

Harmanpreet’s rehab also got affected after she contracted the dreaded virus in April.

"Because of Covid-19, I did not get those practice games, there was not much time. Even NCA was closed at that time and I was doing my rehab through online video meetings and that time I contracted Covid."

"The injury which would have taken 15 days to heal took me two months because of Covid which also made me weak.

"The time was very difficult and I didn't get much time for batting, bowling and hone my skills. I was just working on myself so that I could become fit physically for the team," she recalled.

Kaur also said the lack of warm-up matches in England kept her from building up batting rhythm.

"We didn't get a single practice game and we struggling even for open nets sessions," she said. "I usually prefer more open nets and practice games than nets because in regular nets you don't get much of an idea and every day you're facing the same bowlers, so you can't analyse how you should be batting.

The momentum will be with the visitors as they will be coming back after a morale-boosting four-wicket win in the final ODI after losing the series.

"If you see the second ODI, we didn't win the game, but got the momentum from there only. The way we fielded and bowled was outstanding. After a long gap we were playing, it's not easy. But we will definitely like to carry that momentum," she said.