Mamatha Maben defends Monica Patel, C Prathyusha

C Prathyusha and Monica Patel, after the duo were dropped from the Indian squad for the tour of England next month. Left-arm seamer Patel and leg-spinning allrounder Prathyusha earned their maiden call-ups to national squad and made their ODI debuts during the home series against South Africa that India lost 4-1.

Having failed to make much of an impact in their maiden outings, the pair found themselves in the middle of storm with their selection coming under scrutiny. However, Maben defended the pair saying that they would learn from the experience and come back stronger.

"I would say it was an opportunity that came their way and they took it," the former India captain was quoted as saying by Sportskeeda. "There was a lot of learning experience for them there that I think they'll feel there's a 20% gap or lag, but they're 80% there."

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"If they're forthright with themselves, they will make good that 20% in the next year or so and they should be ready. Because they have performed - it's not like they have not performed at all."

While admitting that being dropped could have a negative impact on the youngsters, the 50-year-old said they should try and look at the positives and learn from the experience.

"It could have an impact. They've been there one series and now they find themselves out, definitely it'll have an impact."

"There are lots of positives from this and I'll want them to look at those aspects and say, 'yeah, we went there and we got to learn a lot and we got to work under the best of the trainers, the best of the coaches, the best of the physios'. Definitely their vision would have broadened and they'd have got an idea of what is required to sustain themselves there. That is what I'd like both of them to take and grow," she added.

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Patel, who played the first and final ODI of the series, failed to pick up a wicket over the course of two matches, conceding a total of 54 runs across 13.2 overs. However, the left-armer did show some fight, bowling with good discipline in the final ODI of the series to finish with figures of 9.2-0.34-0.

Prathyusha, on the other hand, dismissed the powerful Anneke Bosch in the final ODI to pick up her maiden international wicket. She, however, proved to be expensive, finishing the game with figures of 9-0-60-1.

Following the series against South Africa, the pair turned out for Karnataka in their quarter final of the Senior One-Day tournament against Jharkhand in Rajkot. There too they failed to make much of an impact on a flat track, taking only one wicket between them. Karnataka went on to lose the match by 20 runs.