New Delhi: The third and final game of the ODI series between India and England was marred with controversy and at the centre of it was Deepti Sharma. She got England’s Charlie Dean at the non-striker’s end during her delivery stride in the third and final ODI at Lord’s on Saturday. The Indian player got a lot of criticism for it but captain Harmanpreet Kaur has backed her bowler.
Freya Davies and Charlie Dean put on 35 runs for the final wicket, helping England from 118/9 to within sniffing distance of India’s target of 169 before Deepti ran the England batter out before delivering the ball at the non-striker’s end to seal India’s win. While the dismissal garnered attention from all quarters, according to the updated ICC Playing Conditions, “running out of the non-striker” has been moved from the “Unfair Play” section to the “Run out” section.
“To be honest, I thought you will ask about all the 10 wickets which was not easy to take as well. It’s part of the game. I don’t think we have done something new. It shows your awareness, what batters are doing,” stated Harmanpreet Kaur.
She added,” I will back my players, she hasn’t done something outside the rules. After the first game we discussed, we wanted to do really well, we have that much potential. We want to continue this kind of cricket. This wicket was not easy to bat on, our batters did a decent job.”
Speaking about the match and her own performance she remarked, “After that we knew we have the pace attack and spin attack to take the wickets. We never thought we were out of the game. I’m enjoying my time, I want to be there for the team because if I’m there the team is in a positive mode. Today was unfortunate, but otherwise I was watching the ball and batting accordingly.”
This was the last match for veteran fast bowler Jhulan Goswami as well and she got a fine farewell from the Indian players.