Team is working hard: India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur ahead of their Women’s T20 World Cup opener

Indian women’s cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur on Friday said that the team is working hard for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, which is currently underway in the United Arab Emirates from October 3 to 20.

The ‘Women in Blue’ reached the semi-finals in the previous tournament and are now competing in Group A alongside Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

India, ranked third in the world, will kick off their T20 World Cup campaign against fourth-ranked New Zealand on October 4 at the Dubai International Stadium.

The Indian team showed great promise in the warm-up matches, achieving decisive wins over the West Indies and South Africa. In comparison, New Zealand had a varied performance, winning against South Africa while suffering a defeat against England.

Both teams boast strong top orders, with Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma from India matched by Kiwi counterparts Suzie Bates and Amelia Kerr. India has plenty of depth in their batting lineup, and both teams have solid bowling options, with spin likely to play a major role in deciding who comes out on top.

“Every day I’m going and learning and getting experience from every game. People around me are helping me, and they are working hard to elevate our team to the level where we want to be. I am happy with where our team is and how hard we are working to achieve small goals,” said India captain Harmanpreet Kaur, as quoted by the ICC.

“We’ve got a number of young fast bowlers coming through. Their development has been massive over the last 12 to 18 months, so I’m certainly looking forward to seeing what sort of bowlers they can turn into,” said New Zealand captain Sophie Devine.

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Yastika Bhatia (subject to fitness), Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh Thakur, Dayalan Hemalatha, Asha Sobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil (subject to fitness), Sajana Sajeevan. Travelling reserves: Uma Chetry (wk), Tanuja Kanwer, Saima Thakor. Non-travelling reserves: Raghvi Bist, Priya Mishra.

New Zealand: Sophie Devine (c), Suzie Bates, Eden Carson, Izzy Gaze, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Fran Jonas, Leigh Kasperek, Melie Kerr, Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Molly Penfold, Georgia Plimmer, Hannah Rowe, Lea Tahuhu.