Harmanpreet Kaur & Co have the ability and will to achieve what Rohit Sharma’s Indian team did in the West Indies earlier this year when they lifted the T20 World Cup in Barbados; women’s premier event gets underway in Dubai today
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur during a net session in Dubai on Sunday. Pics/Getty Images
Will the Indian women finally break the jinx by winning the Women’s T20 World Cup, which begins here today? They have never won an ICC Trophy and hopefully, this is the occasion when they will finally lay their hands on the World Cup. Indian cricket fans are hopeful that the women’s team emulate the men’s side, who won the T20 World Cup in the West Indies earlier this year. If that happens, it will be a grand double for the fans to rejoice.
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‘Best team here’
Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur, taking to the media at the captains’ conclave, said: “I can say this is the best team we are going in with for a T20 World Cup. We have players who have been together for a long time. We know what the pressure is like and how to handle it. Besides, we will take the men’s team T20 World Cup-winning performance as an inspiration. It has given us hope and confidence. We have been playing good cricket over the last few years and have appeared in the 2020 final. We have a well-settled, confident side, and each player believes in her ability. We are thus confident that this time it will be our moment.”
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On two occasions India came close to winning the World Cup --- the 50-overs one in 2005 and more recently, the T20 version in 2020, losing to Australia on both occasions. As luck would have it, the formidable Aussies are in India’s group. They have won the T20 World Cup in six of the eight editions. They are almost invincible in this format and are firm favourites this time too. Besides, they also pose a great challenge to India in Group A in the league phase. India’s pool can be termed as the Group of Death, as, besides Australia, the other teams -- New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka -- are not pushovers. India had lost to Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final just a few months ago.
Harmanpreet & Co thus have their task cut out. They will first have to clear the tough group in which they have to defeat at least three of the opponents to make it to the semi-finals. Then in the last four, they can expect to come up against England or South Africa. Thus, despite being one of the top teams in the tournament, India have to be at the top of their game right through. Any slip-up and they could be left in the lurch. They will have to take a page out of the aggressive Indian men’s team led by the combative Rohit Sharma and play with aggression and great self-belief in order for the Indian tricolour to fly high in Dubai on October 20, the day of the final.
Those missed chances
However, in recent times we have seen the Indian women’s team succumb to pressure on big occasions. In many matches, they have lost the plot from a winning position, be it in the 2022 T20 World Cup final or the recent Asia Cup final. These were the games India ought to have won convincingly, but somehow, they allowed the pressure to get the better of them. The Indian team now has a full-time psychologist to help the players deal with pressures. How much will that benefit the team, only time will tell.
India’s challenge begins on October 4 when they take on New Zealand, followed by Pakistan on October 6, both in Dubai. Their next game will be against Sri Lanka in Sharjah on October 9 and then they return to Dubai to face Australia on October 13 to complete their league engagements. That is when we will know where India stands where winning the first-ever women’s World Cup is concerned.
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