India lost their captain for the second half of the opening ODI in Brisbane on Tuesday, Harmanpreet Kaur remaining in the dressing-room with a sore left knee while her team tried to defend 214 against Australia.
A short update from the BCCI between innings confirmed she had been “sustaining an injury to her left knee while batting” and that the medical staff “is monitoring her progress”. Nothing more definite yet, though the second match comes up quickly on Friday.
The problem seemed to appear late in the Indian innings. Harmanpreet, on 40 at the time, called for treatment after the 38th over. She carried on – stiff rather than stricken – until the 44th, edging to slip for 53 from 84 balls. Three boundaries and plenty of graft, the effort mainly about patching things up after a middle-order wobble had India 140-for-6.
Smriti Mandhana, vice-captain by title and leader in all but paperwork once Harmanpreet disappeared, had earlier set the pace with 58 from 68. She then juggled the fielding plans, a job she knows well enough from the T20 side, but one she would rather not be doing in an ODI unless absolutely necessary.
Kashvee Gautam’s 43 in 44 balls gave the total a late nudge yet India still finished a touch light. Megan Schutt, flown in after Ellyse Perry and Kim Garth strained quads during the final T20I, slipped straight back into her familiar groove – 2 for 42 from nine, movement both ways, nothing fancy.
Australia, beaten 2-1 in the T20s, are managing their own injury list. Perry and Garth have an eye on the standalone Test that follows this series, so Schutt’s timely return eases one headache at least.
Whether India wake up on Wednesday with a bigger one depends on how quickly that Harmanpreet knee calms down. The physios have the ice ready; Mandhana has the captain’s armband ready too, just in case.
