Harmanpreet banks on familiarity with Bangladesh conditions ahead of Women’s T20WC

Mumbai, May 14 , 2024 : India captain Harmanpreet Kaur discussed this year’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup during the fixture launch event in Bangladesh. The Indian team will embark on the quest for their maiden ICC Women’s title when they travel to Bangladesh for the ICC Women’s
T20 World Cup 2024 later this year. The fixtures for the mega-event which begins in October were announced earlier this month and Harmanpreet was on hand as India were drawn alongside Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. India received an excellent tune up for this year’s tournament with a recent 5-0 whitewash of Bangladesh away from home and Harmanpreet belives this will hold her side in good stead ahead of the ninth edition of the T20 showcase later this year.
Harmanpreet is optimistic that the conditions in Bangladesh, resembling those in India, will
play to their advantage during the T20 World Cup, an ICC report said.
“Yeah, it’s a bit similar to India and hopefully, in these conditions, we should do well,” remarked
Harmanpreet. India and Bangladesh have become familiar foes lately in international cricket, with an intense rivalry simmering in recent years between the two Asian neighbours.
Since the last T20 World Cup in 2023, India have travelled to Bangladesh on two occasions – in
July last year for a three-match T20I series and an ODI series as well as the recent five-match
T20I series. Acknowledging Bangladesh’s home advantage and the backing of their supportive crowd, Harmanpreet reflected on the formidable challenge that awaits her team at the T20 World Cup. “Bangladesh will be the home team and they will know the conditions better than us,”
Harmanpreet noted. “Obviously crowd will be supporting them. But playing against them is always an exciting event. And hopefully, we will do well against them,” she said. Having played each other frequently, Harmanpreet was particularly taken in by Marufa Akter, who has impressed since making her debut in 2022 at just 17 years of age. Marufa’s talent was evident as she represented Bangladesh in the inaugural U19 Women’s T20 World Cup in January 2023 in South Africa, earning a spot in the senior T20 World Cup squad the following month.
When asked which player she would choose to have on the Indian side from Bangladesh,
Harmanpreet picked the 19-year-old pace sensation. “From the Bangladesh team, I would choose Marufa Akter. She looks very exciting talent to me. And if she is in our team, she can do really well for us,” she said.