Nasser Hussain said Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur needs to step up for her side in big matches just like Alyssa Healy did in the ongoing Women’s World Cup 2025. Harmanpreet has not had the best of times in the tournament with the bat, and this coincided with India’s middle-order problems. In four matches so far, the 36-year-old has scored just 71 runs with a top score of 22 in four matches.
On the other hand, Healy leads the run-getters with a total of 294 runs from four matches with two hundreds in the last two matches. Speaking during the JioHotstar press center ahead of the India-England match, Hussain said that Harmanpreet has done well in the World Cups and expects him to step up in the upcoming matches for India.
“As I said, Harmanpreet has a fantastic record in the World Cup. The bigger the game, like Alyssa Healy, in the last two games before the India game, the stats got a little bit worse, but in the two big games, she suddenly delivered. I expect the same from the Indian captain, really,” said Hussain.
Harmanpreet has 947 runs in 30 World Cup matches for India.
India are not dependent on the opening pair
Hussain also said that India are not too dependent on Pratika Rawal and Smriti Mandhana, who have scored 180 and 134 runs so far. The former England captain said Harleen Deol was good with the bat and was consistent.
“I think Harleen (Deol) has been fine; she has been consistent. I saw a tweet recently comparing strike rates. I would just say be careful when comparing strike rates. When you are batting in the power bowl and opening the power bowl, the strike rate will be higher compared to the middle order batsmen.
“So be careful when comparing strike rates. I don’t think India is too dependent on their openers,” Hussain said.
India and England will face each other on Sunday, October 19.
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Published on:
October 17, 2025
