Mumbai, Aug 28: India have recently been beaten badly by Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final. But despite the Asia Cup summit clash heartbreak, Harmanpreet Kaur led India have been impressive of late.
India women have defeated bigger teams like Australia, England and South Africa in Test matches played at home. They have been consistent in their performance. They also seem to have horses for courses under new head coach Amol Muzumdar.
With the Women's T20 World Cup 2024 to be played in UAE and Sharjah in coming October, do India fancy their chances to win their maiden title?
Many Indian supporters, former players and cricket experts are of the opinion that the conditions would suit subcontinent teams including India.
Asked about India's preparations and their chances in the global upcoming event, Harmanpreet Kaur has stated that she wants her team to draw inspiration from the India men's team that won the T20 World Cup in June 2024.
Worth mentioning that India men's team won the T20 World Cup title after 17 years and lifted an ICC trophy after 11 years. India men have four World Cup titles to their credit, which includes 1983 ODI World Cup, 2007 T20 World Cup, 2011 ODI World Cup and 2024 T20 World Cup.
But the India women are yet to win their maiden World Cup title. They did come close in the 2020 T20 World Cup to win the coveted trophy, but were forced to finish as runners-up.
In 2017 Women's ODI World Cup, India almost had their hands in the ICC multi-nation global trophy, but lost by 7 runs to Australia at Lord's Stadium.
India women seem to be unable to cross the Australian hurdle every time they inch closer to an ICC multi-nation title. In the T20 World Cup 2020 Final, they again lost to Australia by a huge 85 runs margin.
In the final of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, India women's team again lost to the Aussies, who won the Gold medal with a 9-run victory. India had to console with a Silver.
Again, in last year's T20 World Cup, India went down to Australia in the semi-final, by just five runs.
As per the fixture, the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 will start on October 3 in Sharjah with two matches on the opening day. India's campaign will kick off on October 4 against New Zealand, before taking on Pakistan on October 6.
India will then take on Sri Lanka on October 9 and play Australia on October 13. After the round-robin stage, the top two teams from each group will play the semi-finals on October 17 and 18, and the final is scheduled for October 20 in Dubai.
If Harmanpreet Kaur and Co can win the so far eluding World Cup this time, they would be the first Indian women bunch to win a cricket World Cup for India.
But will they? Well, all Indians will certainly hope they can conquer the world this time and will not be bogged down by Australia any more.
