Harmanpreet Kaur banks on Bangladesh's familiar conditions to assist India in T20 World Cup

Harmanpreet Kaur (Pic: AFP)

After India enjoyed an outstanding preparation for this year's tournament with a recent 5-0 rout of Bangladesh away from home, captain Harmanpreet Kaur feels Bangladesh's similar conditions to those in India would assist Women in Blue in the Women's T20 World Cup.

The Indian team will embark on the quest for their maiden ICC Women's title when they go to Bangladesh for the Women's T20 World Cup 2024 later this year.

The dates for the mega-event, which begins in October, were released earlier this month, and Harmanpreet was there when India was drawn among Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Women in Blue enjoyed a terrific preparation for this year's event with a recent 5-0 thrashing of Bangladesh away from home, and Harmanpreet believes this will serve her team well ahead of the ninth edition of the T20 showcase later this year.

"Yeah, it's a bit similar to India and hopefully, in these conditions, we should do well," Harmanpreet said as quoted by ICC.

India and Bangladesh have recently become familiar rivals in international cricket, with the two Asian neighbours battling fiercely in recent years.

Since the previous T20 World Cup in 2023, India has visited Bangladesh twice: in July last year for a three-match T20I series and an ODI series, and most recently for a five-match T20I series. Harmanpreet acknowledged Bangladesh's home advantage and the support of their fans as she felt the daunting battle that her team will face at the Women's T20 World Cup.

"Bangladesh will be the home team and they will know the conditions better than us. Obviously crowd will be supporting them. But playing against them is always an exciting event. And hopefully, we will do well against them," Harmanpreet said.

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Harmanpreet's side has become a formidable opponent for Australia in recent years, but the Australians have shown to be too strong, defeating India on the big stage at the Women's T20 World Cup final in 2020 and the Commonwealth Games final in 2022. India lost to Australia in the semi-finals of the last T20 World Cup in 2023.

"I think it will be Australia (who I look forward to facing) because they are very competitive. And if we do well against them, it will give us a lot of confidence and I'm really looking forward to playing against them," said the Indian captain.

When put on the spot to pick the semi-finalists at the upcoming event, Harmanpreet predicted, "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."

There will also be some extra strain on India, which has just lost out on ICC crowns at critical occasions such as the 2017 World Cup final and the 2020 T20 World Cup. Harmanpreet, on the other hand, expressed faith that India will turn a fresh leaf in the future and that her team would emerge victorious in close matches.

"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 all those close games if we can win and do well for the team," she added.

The showpiece event will start on October 3 with England facing South Africa in Dhaka. In total, there will be 23 matches played across 19 days in Dhaka and Sylhet, with reserve days in place for both semi-finals and the final should they be required.

(With agency inputs)