“Harmanpreet Kaur’s Vision: India’s Path to T20 Glory”

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur expressed her confidence in the Indian women’s team, stating that they could potentially reach the semi-finals of this year’s T20 World Cup. She believes that beating the ‘Southern Stars’ will significantly increase their chances of winning their first-ever global title. The T20 World Cup is scheduled to take place in Bangladesh from October 3-20. Harmanpreet is relying on the Indian team’s familiarity with the conditions to secure victory in the competition.

India has been placed in Group A alongside six-time champions Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka for the ninth edition of the tournament. Group B comprises South Africa, England, 2016 champions West Indies, Bangladesh, and Scotland. When asked to predict the semi-finalists, Harmanpreet, who recently led India to a 5-0 whitewash of Bangladesh in the T20I series in Sylhet, said, “India, Australia, England and South Africa. Because all these teams have been doing really well and hopefully these four can qualify for the semis so we can have very good cricket over there.”

Harmanpreet believes that Australia will be the team to beat as they are very competitive. Although Harmanpreet’s side has challenged Australian dominance of late, the rivals have come up trumps in global events, winning the Women’s T20 World Cup final in 2020 as well as the Commonwealth Games final in 2022. Australia also defeated India in the 2023 T20 World Cup semifinal.

Harmanpreet stated that if India performs well against Australia, it will boost their confidence. She also feels that India’s recent success in the 5-match series against Bangladesh has made the team more familiar with the conditions. She said, “Yeah, it’s a bit similar to India and hopefully, in these conditions, we should do well.”

India and Bangladesh have been involved in some intense rivalry of late, which was evident during the recently-concluded series. India has travelled to Bangladesh twice since the 2023 T20 World Cup — in July last year for a three-match T20I series and an ODI series as well as the recent 5-match T20I series. Harmanpreet acknowledged that Bangladesh would be the home team and they would know the conditions better than India. She also acknowledged that the crowd would be supporting them. However, she believes that playing against them is always an exciting event and that India will hopefully do well against them.

Regarding India’s experience in World Cups, Harmanpreet said, “I think in all the ICC events we have done well. The only thing is that we have lost a lot of close games. And this time, hopefully, we can win all those close games and do well for the team.”