Harmanpreet Kaur on T20 World Cup: 'Want to give India another reason to celebrate this year'

India women’s cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur wants the side to take inspiration from the India men’s team that won the T20 World Cup in June, when they compete in the Women’s T20 World Cup in October.

The men’s team clinched the T20 World Cup title after 17 years and lifted an ICC trophy after 11 years. The women’s team have never won the T20 World Cup. The closest they’ve come was in the 2020 edition, when they were runners-up in Australia.

“We have been really inspired by the men’s team, the way they won the T20 World Cup this year,” Harmanpreet said at an event, on the same day the India's T20 World Cup squad was announced.

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“They worked really hard for this trophy and won some tough matches. We need to learn how they maintained their body language for such matches and how they approached such games. We’re on the same road now and getting ready for our World Cup campaign. The team is working really hard and our attempt will be to give our country and fans another opportunity to celebrate this year.”

India women’s team have had years of disappointments in the late stages of big-ticket tournaments. They last reached the ODI World Cup final in 2017, when they lost by just nine runs at Lord’s. At the 2020 T20 World Cup, the women lost to Australia in the final. Two years later they again lost to Australia in the final of the Commonwealth Games.

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At last year’s T20 World Cup, India went down to Australia in the semi-final and were beaten comprehensively by Sri Lanka in the Women’s Asia Cup recently.

For the 2024 T20 World Cup in the UAE, India are in Group A with Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Pakistan. Given the record, will India be under pressure against Australia and the new Asia Cup champions Sri Lanka?

“The World Cup is a kind of tournament for which all teams prepare differently,” Harmanpreet said.

“So no team can be taken lightly and similarly no team should be overestimated either. Bilateral series have a different kind of pressure and for World Cups there is pressure as well as expectations and hopes of fans. We are working extremely hard to live up to those expectations, we have been holding camps where all players are working hard. We have also worked on the mistakes we made the last time. Now we’re ready with a positive mindset.”

The T20 World Cup will start on October 3 in Sharjah. India’s campaign will begin on October 4 against New Zealand, before taking on Pakistan on October 6, Sri Lanka on October 9 and Australia on October 13.

After the group stage, the top two teams from each group will play the semi-finals on October 17 and 18, and the final is scheduled for October 20 in Dubai.