India women’s team captain Harmanpreet Kaur and vice-captain Smriti Mandhana are optimistic about India’s chances of winning the Women’s World Cup, which kicks off on 30 September.
Twice runners-up in 2005 and 2017, India will be eyeing their maiden World Cup title when they begin their campaign against Sri Lanka. Harmanpreet and Mandhana were part of the team that lost the 2017 final to Heather Knight’s England. In the most recent ODI World Cup, India failed to qualify for the semi-finals.
Harmanpreet believes her team can break the barrier this time and bring the trophy home.
“Playing in front of a home crowd is always special, and hopefully this time we will give 100% and try to break that barrier, something all Indian fans, and we ourselves, have been waiting for,” Harmanpreet said at an ICC event in Mumbai.
Having won nine of their last eleven ODIs, India are enjoying a strong run in the lead-up to the tournament, and team morale is high.
“To be honest, very high, because the amount of cricket we have played in the last couple of years has really given us a lot of confidence. And touchwood, the way we have been playing over the last few years, we just want to continue with that. I think it’s all about mindset and the fearless cricket we’ve been playing,” Harmanpreet added.
Mandhana highlighted the preparation behind India’s successful ODI run and is hopeful of lifting the trophy on home soil.
“The amount of training we are doing and the efforts we’re putting in during our training camps are finally yielding results, and hopefully this World Cup will be very special for us,” Mandhana said. “In the last one and a half months in the UK, I felt a lot of things, even off the field, were going right for the team in terms of how everyone came together. We, as a team, really value that and we’re working hard every day, day in and day out.”
Ten days before the World Cup begins, India will play a home series against defending champions Australia. A win in that series would give the team a big confidence boost heading into the eight-team tournament.
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