Indian women’s cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur has been facing heavy criticism over her behaviour in the tied 3rd ODI against Bangladesh. During the match, Kaur hit the stumps with her bat after getting out and later criticised the umpires over their alleged “pathetic” decisions in the game.
Why is Harmanpreet being criticised?
The controversy surrounding Kaur escalated after the ODI between the two teams came to an end. During the presentation ceremony, commented on the Bangladeshi team and the local umpires. When the end-of-series picture was being taken, Harman asked the match umpires, Muhammed Kamruzzman, Tanvir Ahmed, to come into the frame. The remark had been a sarcastic invitation. She was implying that the umpires were a part of the Bangladeshi team. Kaur was reportedly heard asking to get the umpires in the frame as well. “Why are you only here? You haven’t tied the match. The umpires did it for you. Call them up! We better have [a] photo with them as well,” Kaur said while holding the trophy with Bangladesh’s captain Nigar Sultana.
After the match ended, Harmanpreet criticised the umpires over “some pathetic umpiring”. “We are really disappointed about some decisions given by the umpires,” Harmanpreet said. “A lot of learning from this game. Even apart from the cricket, the type of umpiring that was happening there, we were very surprised. Next time whenever we are coming to Bangladesh, we’ll have to make sure we have to deal with this kind of umpiring and accordingly we’ll have to prepare ourselves,” Kaur said.
Nigar Sultana’s reaction
Bangladeshi captain Nigar Sultana during a press conference indirectly asked Harmanpreet to learn “better manners”. “It is totally her problem. I have nothing to do with it…As a player, she could have shown better manners. I can’t tell you what happened, but it didn’t feel right to be there [for the photograph] with my team. It wasn’t the right environment. That’s why we went back. Cricket is a game of discipline and respect,” Nigar said when asked about the incident.
Reactions
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has said that they were “disappointed” by Kaur’s behaviour.
Former India cricketer Madan Lal also slammed her behaviour, adding that she is not bigger than the game. “Harmanpreet’s behaviour against the Bangladesh women’s team was pathetic. She is not bigger than the game. She got a very bad name for Indian cricket. BCCI should take very strict disciplinary action,” he tweeted.