Women's T20 Asia Cup: Harmanpreet Kaur Says India Not Focusing On Any Particular Team
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur on Thursday said her team is not singling out any opponent in the Women's T20 Asia Cup and will instead focus on playing good cricket.
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur on Thursday said her team is not singling out any opponent in the Women's T20 Asia Cup and will instead focus on playing good cricket, while expecting a challenging tournament with the standard of Asian teams improving rapidly. The Asia Cup features India, Pakistan, defending champions Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, hosts UAE, Thailand, Hong Kong China, and Indonesia. The ODI world champions India enter the Women's T20 Asia Cup as one of the favourites, but Harmanpreet played down the hype surrounding her team's much-anticipated clash against Pakistan on September 5. The Indian skipper said her team would not allow external factors to distract it.
"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 on Friday.
"Our main focus is just playing cricket, other than giving focus to the other impact of the game." Harmanpreet did not answer if she would shake hands with her Pakistani counterpart Fatima Sana.
The India skipper said they are treating the continental tournament as an opportunity to test themselves under pressure and build on the lessons from their recent experiences.
"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 experiences gained from past matches will stand the team 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.
Asked about India's preparation for the hot and humid Dubai conditions, Harmanpreet said the team would use its training sessions and the matches preceding 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 said packed stands, such as those witnessed during India's women's clash against Pakistan in Dubai in 2024, were a welcome sign for the sport.
"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 amid questions raised over selection by former captain Anjum Chopra.
"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.
"We want to enjoy the match against India"
Pakistan captain Sana Fatima said they intend to play "fearless cricket".
Sana, who became the first Pakistan woman to play in The Hundred for Birmingham Phoenix, said, "We just want to enjoy the match against India on September 5. T20 cricket is such that whoever plays better on the day wins." "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, "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."
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