Can beat Australia any day of the week, says Harmanpreet as India and Australia begin to fine-tune ahead of the WC.
Harmanpreet says India believe they can beat Australia ‘any day’.
India last defeated Australia in an ODI at home in 2007. In the past five years, they have only triumphed once in ten ODIs against Australia. When the two sides rematch on Sunday in New Chandigarh, they will be up against a lot of odds, but India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur is confident her team can “beat Australia on any day.”
India has just lost two of their 11 ODIs this year, including a recent 2-1 victory over England on the road. They are coming off a successful ODI run. This three-game series may serve as a significant prelude to the September 30 opening of the home World Cup.
Harmanpreet on beating Australia
“We are a team that has worked hard throughout the year and are improving day by day,” she said. “But Australia have had a good set-up for some years now, and they have been dominating for some years now. We have just come into that race, and have done well in the last one to one-and-a-half years. We were working hard [to beat them before]. But now, we have worked a lot on fielding and fitness, and results are starting to show.”
“No doubt, they [Australia] have been very dominating, they have played well all over the world and dominated. But we are also as a stage where, as a captain, we have the belief we can beat them on any day,” Harmanpreet said. “The processes in the last one-and-a-half years have been good, we have improved quite a lot. Even in England, we beat one of their best sides. These show that we are on the right track. This group of players has played together for a while now. Everyone knows what they need to do for the team. There is belief that we can beat any team on any day, which is very important. If you have the belief, the results follow.”
Alyssa Healy lauds India
Australia captain Alyssa Healy said this was the “most stable Indian team she has seen.”
“It feels like to me in the women’s game, India’s been a bit of a sleeping giant for a long period of time and probably haven’t had the stability that I think they do right now,” she said. “They’re a really dangerous side and I think they’re fully aware of that and what they can do to other teams. We watched them go to England and play some really good cricket and challenge a really good side.
“This is the most stable Indian team I’ve seen and I think they’re in a really good place heading into this World Cup so I’m looking forward to that challenge and like you said, the rivalry continues to grow. I know how much they love beating Australia and I know how good they are in their home conditions and that’s really a challenge for us. I think it’s going to be a really enjoyable, hard-fought series.”