“We have been working on mental strength for a long time”: Harmanpreet Kaur on Team India’s T20 World Cup preparations
News Mania Desk/ Sohom Chatterjee / 16th September 2024
Indian Women’s cricket team has been gearing up for the upcoming Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 which will be starting early next month. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur in a recent interview spoke about the preparations of the team ahead of the global tournament.
Harmanpreet revealed that the Women in Blue have been working on their mental strength for a long time. As quoted by Star Sports, “We have been working on mental strength for a long time. The last 3-4 overs are the most crucial. T20 cricket is not a small format; at the end of the day, you are playing 40 overs. In the last 4-5 overs, the team that is mentally strong wins the match. We have been focusing on this for a while. If we can remain mentally stable in those final 5 overs, we can execute what’s best for us. We are working on those aspects, and hopefully, we will overcome this hurdle in the tournament.”
The team most recently lost the Women’s Asia Cup final against Sri Lanka. Prior to the T20I competition, they will play two friendlies against West Indies women and South Africa women teams.
Harmanpreet made her T20I debut in 2009 against England and so far has scored 3,426 runs in 173 games and 153 innings in this format of the game. The 35-year-old will be leading the Indian side in the UAE for this tournament.
In the last edition of the T20WC, Australia defeated South Africa to lift the trophy at their home. The same side also defeated India in the semifinals.
The squad for India includes Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, Dayalan Hemalatha, Asha Sobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, Sajana Sajeevan.
Travelling reserves: Uma Chetry (wk), Tanuja Kanwer, Saima Thakor.
Non-Travelling Reserves: Raghvi Bist, Priya Mishra.
