Shantha Rangaswamy asks Harmanpreet Kaur to step down as captain after World Cup triumph

India’s first women’s captain, Shantha Rangaswamy, has asked Harmanpreet Kaur to step down as a skipper after leading the team to World Cup glory. Rangaswamy reckons Kaur can contribute more solely as a player as she can bat and field better without the onus of leadership.

The former skipper highlighted that Kaur is sometimes not up to the mark with her tactics on the field. Rangaswamy urged the selectors to give the leadership to vice-captain Smriti Mandhana.

“It is overdue. Because Harman, as a batter and a fielder, is brilliant. Yes. But tactically, she can fumble at times. I feel she can contribute more if she is without the burden of captaincy,” Rangaswamy said while speaking to PTI.

“See, when it comes after a success like this (World Cup win), it will not be taken well, but in the interest of Indian cricket and in Harman’s own interest, I think she can contribute much more as a batter without the burden of captaincy,” Rangaswamy added.

Rangaswamy recalled that batting used to be India’s krypotonite earlier but they have a more settled unit now.

“In our days, batting used to be the weaker link. Now batting has a settled look, but bowling is a concern. Fielding, too, can be a lot better. Australia lost only because they didn’t have a good bowling attack,” Rangaswamy said.

“I would say Pakistan and Bangladesh had better bowling attacks. The batters did the job for us,” Rangaswamy added.

Meanwhile, Harmanpreet Kaur’s team registered a convincing 52-run win against South Africa at Navi Mumbai on Sunday in the final clash. Shafali Verma and Deepti Sharma were the stars of the show as both of them delivered with bat and ball. While Verma scored 87 runs and took two wickets, Sharma scored a run-a-ball 58 and scalped a five-wicket haul.