Under the leadership of Harmanpreet Kaur, the Indian eves have superbly cruised into the semi-finals of the Women’s World T20 in West Indies. They ended up the group stage as the table toppers and now gearing up for the next big face-off against England in the early hours of Friday morning (India time).
Ahead of their next challenge, the Indian skipper addressed the media personnel and credited team’s newly appointed head coach Ramesh Powar for his contribution in team building process which has gone a long way in India's praiseworthy performance in the tournament so far.
“We have better plans and we can aim bigger now. The self-belief (is different). I can give credit to Ramesh (Powar) because, from the time he joined our team, our mindset and approach has totally changed,” Harmanpreet said.
England defeated India by nine runs in the in the 50-over World Cup final last year. After more than a year’s time, both the teams are set to lock horns once again in a crucial game of a world tournament. However, the Indian women are aiming to carry on with the winning momentum rather than thinking about revenge, said Indian captain.
“We need to live in the present. At present, we're doing really well, I think. Other than thinking about the past, we just need to think what we need to do in the next game. We're taking it as another game. We just need to focus on what we have done well in the last league games and those things we need to just continue now,” The Indian skipper added.
Here’re the squads:
India: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Mithali Raj, Deepti Sharma, Dayalan Hemalatha, Veda Krishnamurthy, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Mansi Joshi, Devika Vaidya, Anuja Patil.
England: Heather Knight (captain), Tammy Beaumont, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Tash Farran, Kirstie Gordon, Jenny Gunn, Danielle Hazell, Amy Jones, Natalie Sciver, Anya Shrubsole, Linsey Smith, Fran Wilson, Lauren Winfield, Danielle Wyatt.