Former India women’s national cricket team captain Shanta Rangaswami has urged the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to sack Harmanpreet Kaur from the captaincy after the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 victory.
Rangaswamy wants the BCCI to give the same treatment to Harmanpreet Kaur as it gave to Rohit Sharma and Smriti Mandhana should be appointed as the new captain of the India women’s national cricket team.
But tactically, she can sometimes falter – Shanta Rangaswamy and Harmanpreet Kaur
Harmanpreet Kaur-led India Women defeated South Africa Women by 52 runs to win the ICC title in the final of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai.
This was the first World Cup won by the India women’s national cricket team, the credit for which goes to every player of the team. After the win, BCCI decided to honor the team’s achievement and announced prize money of Rs 51 crore.
A day after India’s win, Shanta Rangaswamy has said that Harmanpreet Kaur makes a lot of mistakes in the field and now it is time for her to step down from captaincy and play only as a batsman.
“It’s too late. Because Harman is brilliant as a batsman and a fielder. Yes. But tactically, she can falter sometimes. I think she can contribute more if she is without the burden of captaincy. Look, when this kind of success comes after (the 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 be better as a batsman without the burden of captaincy.” “Can contribute a lot,” he was quoted as saying by PTI.
If Harmanpreet Kaur is removed from the captaincy, it would be the same situation as happened with Rohit Sharma, who was sacked as the ODI captain after the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 victory.
Smriti should be made the captain of all formats- Shantha Rangaswami
Rangaswami further said that Smriti Mandhana is the ideal candidate to lead the Indian women’s team across all formats and plan for the next World Cup. He said:
“He still has three to four years of big cricket left. Not being captain will allow him to do that. Smriti should be made the captain of all formats. You need to plan for future World Cups as well.”
He said that bowling and fielding are a matter of concern for the Indian women’s team and they need to improve. He said:
“In our times, batting used to be the weak link. Now batting seems to be sorted, but bowling is a matter of concern. Fielding can also be much better.”
Australia lost only because they did not have a good bowling attack – Shantha Rangaswami
Talking about India’s historic win over Australia women’s team in the semi-finals, Rangaswamy said that the Australian team did not have good bowlers.
“Australia lost just because they didn’t have a good bowling attack. I would say Pakistan and Bangladesh had a better bowling attack. The batsmen did the job for us,” Rangaswami said.
Rangaswamy also said that winning the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 will inspire many young girls to take up cricket.
He said, “Ten years later, you will see the cascading effect of this victory. It will inspire millions of people to take up the sport.”
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