Captain Harmanpreet Kaur on Thursday said India cannot just rely on one or two players to win a game and if it wants to win the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, it needs to play as a group.
India has failed to reach the final in any of the six previous editions. It made the semifinals two years ago, only the third time the country reached the knockout stage.
“If you want to do well as a team, you need to come up together and do well for the side,” said Harmanpreet.
“Through past tournaments, we have learnt that you cannot depend on just one or two players to win the game for you. If you want to win a big tournament like the World Cup, you have to come up as a team and that’s what we’re looking to do.”
Winds of change
A lack of performance at key moments has usually been the cause of disappointment but the winds of change are blowing ahead of India’s opening match against Australia on Friday.
With youngsters aplenty in a squad that has an average age of 22.8, Harmanpreet has called on the players to step up against the defending champion.
“Young players are mentally very fresh, they don’t know what type of pressure they have to face. They love playing cricket, that’s why they are in this side and they are definitely enjoying this moment,” she said.
Harmanpreet, who has been part of all the T20 World Cups played till now, also called on her side to enjoy the moment — acknowledging just how far women’s cricket has come since the first edition in 2009.
“We’re really enjoying this, as a cricketer you miss these things when you don’t play,” she said. “When you’re playing at home you have more pressure. Australia may have that but they are a very good side, everyone is doing well.”
She added: “We all know that Indian fans love cricket and wherever it is happening, they love to go and watch. That’s what we are expecting in this game.”
