India captain Harmanpreet Kaur expects a tough Women’s T20 Asia Cup as Asian teams continue to improve, with India refusing to focus on any one opponent and instead concentrating on playing good cricket.
The Asia Cup features India, Pakistan, defending champions Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, hosts UAE, Thailand, Hong Kong China and Indonesia.
India, the ODI world champions, enter the tournament as one of the favourites. But Harmanpreet played down the attention surrounding their much-anticipated clash against Pakistan on September 5, insisting her team would not allow outside factors to distract them.
“We are not putting any focus on one particular team, which is going to be tough for us. All the teams have been doing well and our focus is to play good cricket and not to take any team easily,” Harmanpreet said at the captains’ press conference ahead of the tournament, which begins here on Friday.
“Our main focus is just playing cricket, other than giving focus to the other impact of the game.”
Harmanpreet did not answer when asked if she would shake hands with her Pakistani counterpart Fatima Sana.
The India captain said the Asia Cup would give her team an opportunity to test itself under pressure and build on the experience gained from recent matches.
“Asia Cup is a platform where you can really test yourself and put yourself under a lot of pressure to perform at a level which you expect a lot from your team,” Harmanpreet said.
“This tournament is very important for us as a team to do well. Especially all the teams, they are the ones in the last two-three years we have seen massive improvement. And whenever we are playing against them, they are not giving anything easy to us.
“This is going to be very challenging, but at the same time, our experience will help us.”
India had a disappointing T20 World Cup campaign, but Harmanpreet believes the experience from their previous matches will stand them in good stead.
“All the experience we have got from the past matches is going to help us, and hopefully we will play our best cricket and enjoy cricket here,” she said.
India arrived in Dubai on Wednesday and are yet to get a look at the field. Harmanpreet said the team would use Friday’s training session and the matches before their opener to assess the conditions before finalising their combination.
“We just reached yesterday (Wednesday) and haven’t seen the field yet. But tomorrow (Friday) when we train, even a good thing is that two teams are playing before us. So we will get to see a lot of things and then understand how the conditions are going to be. And then accordingly, we’ll make the plan,” she said.
Harmanpreet also welcomed the prospect of packed stands during the tournament, recalling the strong support for India’s women’s clash against Pakistan in Dubai in 2024.
“As a cricketer, we always want to see packed stadiums. Fans are coming and supporting us. Hopefully, this Asia Cup, we have the same packed stadiums,” she said.
Harmanpreet also backed the Indian squad after former captain Anjum Chopra raised questions over the selection.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I think we have picked the best team and they have given very impressive performances. That’s why they are here. I’m sure that whenever we go to the field, we’ll play our best cricket,” she said.
PAKISTAN READY FOR INDIA CLASH
Pakistan captain Fatima Sana said her team wants to play fearless cricket and enjoy their much-anticipated clash against India on September 5.
Sana, who became the first Pakistan woman to play in The Hundred for Birmingham Phoenix, said the nature of T20 cricket means the better team on the day will win.
“We just want to enjoy the match against India on September 5. T20 cricket is such that whoever plays better on the day wins,” Sana said.
“Whenever we play in Dubai, we are used to the conditions. We have players who can do well in these conditions. We have good batters as well; hopefully, they will express themselves.”
UAE captain Esha Oza said her team will focus on enjoying the tournament and putting its preparation into practice.
“It’s about enjoying what you do, it’s not about trying to prove anything to anyone. We have trained hard, and it’s about implementing those things,” Oza said.
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