"If I need to be given a send-off, so be it" - Alyssa Healy on battle with Harmanpreet Kaur
Australian captain Alyssa Healy said she feels "no animosity" against her Indian counterpart Harmanpreet Kaur. The wicketkeeper-batter also said she's happy to accept send-offs from Indian cricketers because she isn't quiet on the field either.
Healy's comments came after Australia completed a 2-1 ODI series comeback win on Tuesday. They lost the one-off Test and cleanly swept the T20I series 3-0.
Throughout the tour, Harmanpreet posed an angry figure on the field with subtly heated moments aplenty between the two captains, especially when the Indian bowled to the Aussie. During the Test, Harmanpreet gave the latter a fiery send-off after dismissing her LBW.
"[Harmanpreet and I] are two competitive cricketers going out there doing their job," Healy said. "We approach it differently and that is no disrespect to her, and that's over to her to deal with that. From my point of view there is no animosity there. If I need to be given a send-off, so be it. I am all for it, because at the end of the day, I am chirpy behind the stumps. If you are willing to dish it out, you have got to be able to cop it."
The skipper scored a match-winning 55 (38) in the final T20I at the DY Patil Stadium. She was also Australia's top run-scorer in the series and was awarded the Player of the Series.
"It might be down to some form" - Alyssa Healy on Harmanpreet Kaur's low returns
While Healy shone with the bat and as the captain, Harmanpreet recorded only single-digit scores on the tour across six innings. Her best was nine runs in the second innings of the Test. The Australian captain was empathetic in her analysis of the subject.
"She got out playing the sweep shot quite a lot, which she traditionally plays quite well," she said. "It might be down to some form. She has had rprobably two hard series on the trot and this series has been a long one. [We had] no specific plans in place, but we know we need to be switched on when she walks out to the crease and our bowlers did a great job at keeping her quiet."
India head coach Amol Mazumdar also played down the concerns saying such slumps "happen to every cricketer".