Harmanpreet Kaur "looking forward" to play her second home Test in entire career
Nov 22, 2023
Melbourne [Australia], November 22 : India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur is excited to make her return in the Test format, especially in front of the home crowd for the first time since 2014.
Harmanpreet in her 14-year career has played a Test game once in front of the home crowd. She will get the opportunity to play just her second Test against England at the DY Patil Stadium on December 14.
Currently, she is in Australia playing in the Women's Big Bash League for Melbourne Renegades and will stay with the team till their last game on Saturday.
After that game, Harmanpreet will have only 10 days to prepare for the three-match T20I series which will begin on December 6.
"The Test series is something which we are really looking forward to because I haven't played in front of a home crowd [since 2014], so I'm really excited for that," Harmanpreet told ESPNcricinfo.
"The challenge for us is that we haven't played with the red ball. We have been playing with the white ball for so many years, even in domestic cricket also we don't have red-ball cricket back home. So the challenge for us is to make yourself ready in such a short time," Harmanpreet added.
Harmanpreet further went on to talk about facing difficulty in preparing for the Test series due to the jam-packed schedule. 14 games in six weeks along with travelling and practice sessions hasn't allowed the India batter to prepare for the red ball cricket.
"I had that thought if I can simultaneously do some red-ball practice also, but because it's such a packed schedule you can't mix things. We're playing T20 cricket and the Test game is a totally different kind of game, so I didn't want to mix it. When I'm going back, I have ten days to prepare myself," Harmanpreet said.
