Women’s World Cup: Our focus is on cricket only, Harmanpreet Kaur says

The highly billed India-Pakistan league game of ICC Women’s World Cup will be played on the neutral turf of Colombo on 5 October, but Harmanpreet Kaur sees no shadows of current political overtones of it making an impact in their dressing room. The Indian skipper and a pillar of their middle order was speaking on the Captains’ Day - featuring the eight captains in a virtual media conference.

 The hybrid model for India versus Pakistan matches, agreed upon by the respective boards alongwith ICC earlier this year to solve the impasse over the Champions Trophy, will see the two teams not playing on each other’s soil at least for next three years. This has resulted in the highly billed game taking place at co hosts Sri Lanka – while the ongoing Men’s Asia Cup in the UAE has seen sparks flying beyond the boundary.

 However, Harmanpreet is confident that their focus will remain solely on cricket – an area in their circle of influence. ‘’Well, we can only control one thing which is playing cricket on the field and we are not thinking of other things. Because as cricketers, we can only control the things we have in our hand. But in other parts, I have zero control and I don’t even take those things into my mind. We don’t even discuss those things in the dressing room. We are only here to play cricket and our focus is only on cricket,’’ the senior pro said. 

The 36-year-old admitted there are high expectations from her side ahead to break the jinx for a major ICC title at home, but stressed the need to enjoy the opportunity rather than feel the weight of pressure. ‘’I think leading your country is always a very special moment for any player, but leading your country in an ODI World Cup is even more special and on top of that, it is a home World Cup, so it’s even more special,’’ Harmanpreet said.

 “I have often been asked what this World Cup means to me and the Indian cricket team. My answer to that question is straightforward - It’s a chance to create history,’’ she said. The Women in Blue, who have entered the tournament on back of good form,  will be determined to turn the tide after a disappointing 2022 edition where they failed to reach the semi-finals.

England’s new captain Nat Sciver-Brunt, who will be balancing the dual responsibility of captain and lead batter, admitted she is still learning to juggle both roles but said she has developed ways to separate the demands of batting and leadership.‘’I've sort of learnt to compartmentalise different parts of the game. I think when you go out there as a batter, you're really trying to focus on the ball that's coming down. I don't really want too much more noise than that in my head,’’ Sciver-Brunt said.

Captains of Pakistan (Fatima Sana), Sri Lanka (Chamari Athapaththu), South Africa (Laura Wolvaardt) and Bangladesh (Nigar Sultana Jotti) joined the press meet online. Sri Lanka skipper Athapaththu said her side would embrace the underdog tag in the tournament opener against hosts India on Tuesday (30 September) in Guwahati.

‘’They are very good players. I know they are playing at home, so we will be going there as a bit of underdogs. But we have beaten them a couple of times in the past in the Asia Cup and then in a series, so it’s all about playing well on that given day,’’ Athapaththu said.