Abhishek Nayar admits foolishness in changing UPW batting order as they lost their second game on the bounce.
Abhishek Nayar took full responsibility for the decision to send Harleen Deol to start the batting against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and blamed opposition-based tactics for UP Warriorz’s (UPW) batting-order change. After starting their first game, Kiran Navgire was demoted to No. 4.
“We felt that with the moving ball at that point, Harleen could add a bit of value in the powerplay,” Nayar said after UPW lost their second successive match in WPL 2026. “She’s obviously technically correct. It didn’t work out today. I felt it turned out to be the wrong decision. I take complete responsibility for it. But I think the thought process behind it was having some solidity up top and then hopefully having that power later on as the pitch gets better, because we anticipated a bit of swing initially. I thought those match-ups for Kiran Navgire in the middle would work. [But they] didn’t work today. So I look foolish.”
In UPW’s 208-run chase against Gujarat Giants, Deol recorded a two-ball duck and Navgire was dismissed for one off four balls. UPW fell by just ten runs, though, thanks to lower-order cameos and Phoebe Litchfield’s 78. Shweta Sehrawat, who produced a 17-ball 25 with three sixes and a four, was one of those cameos. She batted at number six and blasted Renuka Singh’s opening ball for a six over extra cover.
In domestic cricket, Sehrawat, a natural top-order batsman, batted in the middle order. She scored 157.89 in the Women’s Under-23 T20 Trophy and 144.57 in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy. She was also given the responsibility of wicketkeeping after joining the UPW camp.
“For her career, I think it’s a great step moving forward,” Nayar said. “Giving her the gloves, in my head, was a KL Rahul sort of move, where it brightens her chances of making it to the India squad, especially seeing that there aren’t a lot of options. She’s a tremendous batter with a lot of capability, power and flair. She has been working on a couple of shots, and we’ve seen that in practice matches and during her preparation. But it was good to see a sample size of it in a game. I have a lot more expectations from her through the season because I truly believe she has the potential to don the India colours and do exceedingly well.
“In 15 days of practice, she has been keeping to Sophie Ecclestone, Deepti Sharma and Asha [Sobhana]. So with a little more keeping under her belt, I really feel she can be a great prospect for the Indian women’s team.”
“In today’s game, you can’t talk too much about the batting order because we lost wickets in heaps,” Nayar said. “In our mind, it was quite simple. Everyone had their roles clear. But when you lose so many wickets, what role? You just have to go out and play.
“For me, in T20 cricket, the numbers after your top three don’t really matter. The top three today was a call based on the opposition. Although I believe in having players play set roles, I also felt that today it didn’t work out. But that doesn’t mean Harleen can’t do it, or that Kiran can’t do it. It just didn’t work out today. If she had scored 100, we’d be having a different conversation.”