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The senior women's teams will kick off their T20 World Cup campaign on February 10, and all eyes will be on India after the junior team secured the inaugural U19 Women's T20 World Cup trophy in South Africa on Sunday, January 29. It was a momentous occasion for the young girls of India, especially skipper Shafali Verma, who lost the final of the previous edition in 2020 to Australia.
Sharing her thoughts on the victory for India, and the upcoming competition, the senior side's skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said that it is time to take inspiration from this team. "The Under-19 team’s victory provides added inspiration. Winning any world title is huge and one will always remember this one since it was the inaugural edition of the championship. I congratulate the team for the historic victory and hope we can emulate them in the senior event," Harmanpreet wrote in her column for ICC.
The side have played in three World Cup finals, but have failed to win the trophy. They even lost the Commonwealth Games gold medal match, once again to Australia. Harmanpreet hopes that the returned Shafali and Richa Ghosh will boost their chances of finally winning the trophy.
"We have senior players as well as young guns like Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh, who are fresh from the Indian team’s victory at the Under-19 World Cup, play an attractive brand of cricket and now also have enough experience of top-class cricket. We have depth in batting and enough variety in bowling with Renuka Singh stepping up well in the pace department to do what is required against top teams," the veteran batter added.
She also believes that despite Australia entering the tournament as favourites yet again, the matches will definitely be high-octane.
"I am sure this year’s tournament in South Africa will be ultra-competitive. Though Australia goes into the tournament as favourites, there is very little separating other teams, promising close matches and high-class performances."
"Now, it’s all about us putting to use our experiences, remaining focussed and not getting overawed at crucial junctures. We have confidence in our abilities and understand that we need to step up a level to be remembered as a world-beating Indian side," she added.
