With a 56-run knock, India’s wicketkeeper Karuna Jain was the perfect partner for centurion Harmanpreet Kaur. The duo added 106 runs for the fourth wicket to keep India Women in the game as they battled against the Katherine Brunt-led England attack. Back in the national side for the World Cup after over four years, the 27-year-old carved out a patient 92-ball knock and was willing to play second fiddle to the in-form Kaur. Their crucial stand stabilised the innings after losing three wickets early on. However, it proved inadequate to help India register a win.

Looking back at the match, while talking to bcci.tv, Jain lauded Kaur’s efforts and spoke about her innings at length.

Excerpts from her interview:

On the conversation in the middle with Harmanpreet Kaur when they came together to bat

We just had to play through the overs and push the score. We knew that we had players like Jhulu [Jhulan Goswami] and Ninja [N Niranjana] and Amy [Amita Sharma] down the order who can get it close and finish the game. We just saw through every over and tried pushing for the runs; that was the plan that we had.

On her partnership with Kaur

It was really nice, especially batting with Harman [Harmanpreet Kaur]. She rotated the strike most of the time and I had to do the same. I was just following her lead since she has been consistent in her performances. And she made it much easier for me.

On whether the plan was to accelerate around the 34th over

Jhulu is the one who generally takes on the bowling. I think it was not her day today while batting. Otherwise she is the one who actually accelerates the batting during the powerplays. She did get a few good strokes, but got out a little early. If she had stayed there, I am very sure she and Harry [Kaur] would have finished the game.

On Harmanpreet Kaur’s knock

She was really amazing. We don’t talk much; it is just little words, but very effective. She has been consistent for a year or more than that, so I am really happy for a youngster to be really consistent like that. And I hope she gets us through the next couple of games.

On the areas they would work on ahead of the next game

The openers did a really good job in the first game and today the middle order clicked, and I would not say any aspect was negative as such. But we will take all the negatives from the game and turn them into positives. It was a really good game at the end of the day. We didn’t lose by a very big margin and we did fight through. Of course 20-30 runs do matter when you are fielding and we will work on it. In fact, we have been working on it.

On whether she enjoys batting as well

Now I enjoy ‘keeping and watching the others bat because we have such lovely bats in our side and I am waiting to watch Mithu [Mithali Raj] bat. She is a lovely bat; she is terrific. Her big knock is yet to come. I think it is in the next game.

On her beginnings as a cricketer

I have always been a wicketkeeper-batsman. My main role always has been wicketkeeping. My batting is about chipping in 25-30 runs. But today I pushed through, and my role was to push through the overs since we had lost early wickets.

It has almost been 14-15 years since I started out. Basically, I started by watching my brother play cricket and I used to go and watch his college matches and league matches, and that’s how I took up cricket.

I have trained with Irfan Sait, KIOC and we also have Shanta [Rangaswamy] and Kalpana [Venkatacher Kalpana]. Kalpana is in charge of the state nets. When I am doing my personal practice, it is with Irfan and when it is about the state side, it is with Kalpana.

On her comeback

There was lot of work to be done coming back into the national side. The standards differ in domestic and international level, and you need to adjust. All the support staff, management, trainers and everyone, all have been supporting me; the senior players have been especially supportive. They have not made me realise that I am coming back after such a long time. That has helped me push myself harder.