Indian women’s cricketer Harleen Deol named MS Dhoni as her inspiration. The men’s wicketkeeper was last seen on the cricket field in the 2019 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand at Manchester’s Old Trafford. Martin Guptill ran him out with a direct hit, then Dhoni played no competitive cricket.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will be making a comeback in the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). However, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic has been postponed, and it is not known when MS Dhoni will be back in action. Meanwhile, Deol, who plays for the Himachal Pradesh women on the domestic circuit, held a session on Instagram.
Though she did not play at all, questions were filled for the 21-year-old from Chandigarh, Punjab. One of the supporters asked her about the cricketer, from whom she got the inspiration. And she wrote, “All-time favorite @ mahi7781 (Love emoticon).”
Here is the screenshot of Deol’s reply
Harleen Deol’s numbers on the field
On February 22, 2019, Harleen’s dream of playing for India was fulfilled. She was drafted to replace Harmanpreet Kaur, and she wore the national jersey against England at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. However, it remains to be her only ODI match so far. The following month, Harleen also entered the T20I format.
In six T20Is to date, Deol has 23 runs and four wickets. She was part of India’s squad for the 2020 Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia recently. To her dismay, she never played a single match. Her only T20 was in Melbourne with Aussies in February of this year.
Last year, Deol was a part of the Smriti Mandhana-led trailblazers in the Women’s T20 Challenge, which coincided with the Indian Premier League (IPL). In both matches, Harleen scored 36 and 43 and took one wicket against the Velocity.
At the age of 13, she left her parents and moved to a new city to start her cricket career. Then she joined the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association’s U-19 Residential Academy. From there, she hasn’t looked back and works hard to bright her future.
