NEWS
Follow UsIndia have been placed in group A along with Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Pakistan in the upcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 in Bangladesh. All the group A matches will be played at Sylhet, exactly where India recently whitewashed Bangladesh 5-0 in a T20I series.
Speaking on the occasion of the fixture announcement, Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur was quite positive about her side’s chances of going into the World Cup and felt that the subcontinent conditions would benefit her side.
“Yeah, it’s a bit similar to India and hopefully, in these conditions, we should do well,” Harmanpreet said at the event.
“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.”
The Indian women were all over the home side in the recently concluded series, and the difference in experience and exposure between the two national sides was stark. The performances reflected that. However, Bangladesh have included some serious new talent, and they haven’t missed Harmanpreet’s eyes.
When asked which player from the Bangladeshi setup she would like to play for India, she named the 19-year-old right-arm pacer Marufa Akter.
“From the Bangladesh team, I would choose Marufa Akter. She looks very exciting talent to me. And if she is in our team, she can do really well for us,” Harmanpreet remarked.
Notably, Marufa has been a prodigy of sorts for Bangladesh. She burst into the scene at just 17 and debuted for her nation. She was a key member of Bangladesh’s squad for the inaugural U-19 Women’s World Cup and made the trip to South Africa. She was also included in the senior side for the T20 World Cup that happened a month later.
When asked which side Harmanpreet is looking forward to facing the most, the Indian skipper’s answer was obvious to anyone who has seen her perform against Australia in ICC events.
“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.”
India meet Australia in the group stages during the World Cup on October 13. Harmanpreet also revealed her semifinal predictions. When asked which sides she sees in the top four, she said, “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.
"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.”
The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 will begin on October 3 and will feature 10 teams which are divided into two groups of five teams each.
