Amanjot reflects on her stellar comeback
Guwahati: Injuries, setbacks and months of rehab have only sharpened all-rounder Amanjot Kaur's hunger and the 25-year-old believes that, like a wounded lion that steps back before pouncing again, her long injury layoff was just a pause before a bigger leap.
Batting at No. 8, Amanjot's counterattacking partnership with Deepti Sharma rescued India from 124/6 under overcast skies and powered them to a 59-run win over Sri Lanka via the DLS method in a rain-curtailed 47-overs-a-side affair.
"Jaise kehte hain ghayal sher ek kadam pichhe leta hai lambi chhalang marne ke liye (as they say, a wounded lion takes a step back only to leap further), it seems you people will make me famous for my lines,” she quipped after her match-winning knock against Sri Lanka in the Women's World Cup opener here on Tuesday.
Having debuted in 2023, Amanjot's rare ability to bowl pace with effect and score freely lower down the order, made her a dependable all-rounder. But a stress fracture and ligament tear ruled her out for eight months, denying her a shot at the last T20I World Cup.
The daughter of a Mohali carpenter and a woodwork contractor, she used the time away to reset perspectives and returned at the Women’s ODI Challenger earlier this year, impressed in the WPL for Mumbai Indians, and later starred in England with a match-winning 63 not as India won a historic series.
But she then she skipped the Australia series ahead of the World Cup, prompting speculation of injury yet again.
Amanjot however set the record straight during the media interaction.
"It wasn't feeling very good. So I told sir (Amol Muzumdar) that if you're looking at me for the World Cup, my body needs rest so that I play the World Cup fresh and not with a tired body. My playing makes sense only if I stop some runs in fielding, score runs, and take wickets and shine as an all-rounder, otherwise anyone else can take my spot. I felt my body needed rest, there was no injury as such. I felt that I should return fresh for the World Cup."
