Sri Lanka tour 'ideal platform' for young bowlers to step up

Harmanpreet Kaur, India's newly-appointed ODI captain, and head coach Ramesh Powar, laid out the plans for the team before departing for the Sri Lanka tour, as they look to fine-tune their plans for the Commonwealth Games starting next month and the T20 World Cup next year in South Africa, according to ESPNcricinfo.
The upcoming tour of Sri Lanka will be the "ideal platform" and the "right time" for the young quick bowlers to grab their "opportunities" in the absence of the experienced Jhulan Goswami and Shikha Pandey.
The omission of Goswami, Pandey and allrounder Sneh Rana were among the talking points when the squads were picked for the ODIs and T20Is in Sri Lanka. While Rana was "rested," Powar explained, he also hinted that Goswami and Pandey had been dropped.
While India's spin attack includes experienced names like Deepti Sharma, Poonam Yadav and Rajeshwari Gayakwad apart from Radha Yadav (only for T20Is), the pace attack features Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh and allrounder Simran Bahadur.
"I think if we talk about our bowling unit, this is the time they can take responsibility and this tour will be the ideal platform for them to perform," Harmanpreet said at a virtual press conference on Saturday. "We will take the charge and bowl [their] full quota [of overs]. For me, it's a great opportunity where you can build a good team. Sri Lanka is not going to be an easy tour for us. So, it's important [to ensure that] whatever we are planning we go and deliver. That's what as a unit we are looking forward to."
Powar further said this tour will open the doorway for further growth among youngsters.
"When you move forward in a transition period, you need to give opportunities to young players to cement their places," he said. "For that as a support staff, we need to go and give them support through NCA and skill coaches that they should concur in every situation. So, this is the right time for players to take their opportunity and do well going forward.
"As far as pace bowling is concerned, you've seen from the Australia tour, we've introduced Renuka and Meghna, we introduced a few bowlers in the system as well. So, it will take a little time to see the results because they have to address their fitness and match experience.
"As far as Jhulan and Shikha are concerned, I think they have done a fantastic job over the years and BCCI and selectors can update on their fitness and everything. As of now, Shikha and Jhulan are not travelling with us.