India will open their ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023 campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on February 12 in Cape Town, and captain Harmanpreet Kaur said that the senior team hopes to emulate the U19 Women’s team’s heroics and win the tournament.
The U19 Women’s team defeated England in the final in South Africa to lift the first-ever ICC Women's U19 T20 World Cup in January. Harmanpreet Kaur said that it felt really good that Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh, two members of the senior national side, got the taste of winning a World Cup trophy.
"It feels good that two of our players got the taste of how it feels after winning a World Cup trophy. Their experience and feelings will motivate others. We hope to continue what our U19 team did. I feel that a single player can only win you a game or two. That is why, I keep talking to all the players, to keep them comfortable,” said Harmanpreet in a video posted by ICC.
Indian opener Smriti Mandhana also said that following the U19 team's World Cup win, the senior side started to visualize themselves winning the trophy.
"It is something we are trying to bring for the Indian team for a very long time. We came really close previously but could not achieve it. To see the girls go over the line (during U19 T20 WC) was emotional," added Mandhana.
Meanwhile the U19 T20 World Cup winning captain Shafali Verma remembered India’s heartbreaking loss to Australia in the final of the 2020 T20 World Cup.
"That tournament is very close to my heart. It was my first-ever World Cup. We cannot say that we lost since we won the hearts of millions of fans. It was a very good tournament and I got a lot of motivation out of it. We will try to win each of our games and we want to win the World Cup," said Shafali.
Team India head coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar said that the U19 World Cup win is going to have a huge impact on women's cricket.
"There is a lot more attention being given to women's cricket. I am sure there are a lot of girls who will be watching these tournaments and will take up the game as a profession. There is a huge wind factor that makes the difference while batting and bowling," said the coach.
India's squad for ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023:
Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (Vice-Captain), Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Richa Ghosh (wk) Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya, Radha Yadav, Renuka Thakur, Anjali Sarvani, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shikha Pandey
(ANI inputs)
