Smriti Mandhana defends Harmanpreet Kaur after criticism of umpires; Nigar Sultana slams India captain's 'manners'
FirstpostSmriti Mandhana defended Harmanpreet Kaur’s outburst against the Bangladeshi umpires after the third ODI between India and Bangladesh ended in a tie. Asker about her captain’s on-field reaction, Mandhana said that it was “part and parcel” of the game and Harmanpreet’s backlash was made in the “heat of the moment”. When you really want that ‘W’ on the board for India, these things happen.” Mandhana also asked ICC to appoint neutral umpires for future series. “I am sure the ICC, BCB and BCCI will have more of a discussion on that and maybe we can have a neutral-umpiring system from maybe next time so that we don’t sit here having these discussions and maybe we can focus more on cricket and cricket-oriented questions.” It was also reported that during the end-of-series team photograph session, Harmanpreet yelled “bring the umpires too”, which led to Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana taking her players back to the dressing room soon.