India Women’s cricket team have decided to let go of Abhay Sharma, the team’s fielding coach alongside Naresh Ramdas, the trainer of the team.
Sharma had received high praises from the players for his work on the England tour. However, he has not entered the bio-secure bubble in Bengaluru, where the Indian team has assembled for a training camp ahead of the Australia tour. The NCA support staff member Naresh Ramdas also did not enter the bubble.
The absence of both of these members came as a surprise to even the players in the camp. The reason behind this sudden development is unknown, but a BCCI official has asserted that the new appointments will be made soon.
“The names of new fielding coach and trainer will be approved shortly,”
a BCCI official quoted to PTI.
Former India cricketer SS Das was one of the members to retain his position as the batting coach. The head coach Ramesh Powar will handle the bowling department.
Abhay Sharma had joined the team ahead of the South Africa series and did a commendable job in his short stint. He had done extensive drills with the team, and even the one-on-one sessions received praise from the T20 skipper Harmanpreet Kaur.
“Earlier also, we used to make a lot of effort but the little adjustments that Abhay sir has done with our fielding, the individual sessions that he has taken with the players that has helped,”
Kaur had stated last month.
“The most important thing is that he judged areas where every player can improve, so we are getting the results day by day from the effort that we have put in, which is a great positive.”
India’s much-improved fielding was on display during the multi-format series against England, where Harleen Deol’s spectacular catch to dismiss Amy Jones reached a global audience. Smriti Mandhana took an outstanding catch to dismiss dangerous-looking Nat Sciver during the third ODI. The Test and ODI captain Mithali Raj had heaped praises on Sharma for this significant turnaround.
With the U19 World Cup lined up next year, Sharma, who had travelled with the U19 squad in the last edition, could be sent to work with the junior cricketers.
