171 eclipsed other knocks: Harmanpreet Kaur

Christchurch, March 2

Senior India player Harmanpreet Kaur, who has battled a prolonged rough patch, feels her 171 against Australia in the 2017 World Cup overshadowed her many “crucial” knocks of 30 and 40, which followed that “benchmark-setting” innings.

Two days before the ODI World Cup begins in New Zealand, the vice-captain added that critics often forget her low-scoring but important knocks because of one standout performance.

“I know people talk more about my 171 knock and that is a standard I have set for myself, maybe that’s why my small knocks of 30-40 runs, which are crucial to the team, are not given importance,” Kaur said during a virtual media interaction today. “I don’t want to judge myself through numbers — what matters to me is that when the team needs me, I can stand for them be it by scoring 100 runs or 10 runs.”

The 32-year-old had been struggling with the willow but roared back to form in time for the World Cup, beginning on Friday.

Kaur scored a total of 33 runs in the first three matches against New Zealand before being dropped from the side for the fourth ODI. However, in the final game, the right-hander smashed 63, following it up with a 104 in the warm-up match against South Africa. —