"How Did Situation Escalate?": India Great Baffled By Harmanpreet Kaur's Umpiring Rant

Indian women's cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur faced severe backlash from the cricketing spectrum over her actions in the tied 3rd ODI against Bangladesh. Harmanpreet didn't just shatter her stumps after getting out in the match but also decided to publicly criticise the umpires over an alleged 'poor' decision-making in the game. While Harmanpreet's teammates decided to stand by her, former India captain Anjum Chopra criticised the senior batter, suggesting she shouldn't have gone out in public and made statements like these.

In an interview with Hindustan Times, Chopra said that Harmanpreet should've been more careful with the choice of her words.

"When the aggression goes away and she becomes calm I'm sure she would look back and agree that she needed to be more careful in showing her disagreement. There's no harm in voicing your displeasure, but it's how and when you do it. She should have been more selective with her choice of words too," she said.

When asked about the umpiring issues raised by the Indian team, Chopra said that the concerns could've been raised in a better way. She maintained that Harmanpreet should've have gone public with her displeasure.

"There was no snickometer or ball-tracking, so it's a bit difficult to judge. But if they (Indian team) felt a few decisions did not go their way, could things have been handled better? Why did it come down to the Indian captain going to the post-match presentation and voicing her displeasure? It could have been communicated in a better way. How did the situation scale up to this? The Indian team not playing up to the mark can be a cause of their disappointment but that could have been kept within the dressing room. Going out in public like this (was not proper)," she asserted.

Chopra also put the blame for Harmanpreet's behaviour on the team's performance in Bangladesh.

"It's not a pleasing sight. When you watch India-Bangladesh in the morning and then the women's Ashes in the evening, you could see the stark difference. One of the basic reasons is the pitch. The moment the pitch is true you can expect good scores and an even contest between bat and all. It is a very important difference, though I'm not trying to say that is the reason," said the India great. 

Topics mentioned in this article

India Women Bangladesh Women Harmanpreet Kaur Anjum Chopra Cricket