Buoyed by the ODI World Cup win last year, Harmanpreet Kaur and Co are confident of making a mark in the five-match T20I series against South Africa as a precursor to the upcoming T20 World Cup in June.
India recently registered T20I series wins over Australia and Sri Lanka. The series against South Africa begins on Friday and serves as an opportunity to fine-tune their preparation and narrow down personnel for the marquee event in England and Wales.
“We want to take this opportunity very seriously and play our best cricket here. It’s a great chance for us to come together and prepare well before the World Cup,” Harmanpreet told reporters at the pre-series press conference.
“(South Africa) have been playing really good cricket for the last four or five years. Every time they’re reaching the finals, doing really well and playing good competitive cricket. That’s why we wanted to play against them before the T20 World Cup.”
She added: “You always get good confidence when you do well against good teams. So South Africa is one of the teams and hopefully here we will play our best cricket.”
Harmanpreet underlined that giving opportunities to players in the series would be a priority. Seam bowling all-rounder Kashvee Gautam and spin-bowling all-rounder Anushka Sharma had received their T20I call-ups for this series. Meanwhile, wicket-keeper batter Uma Chetry was the other inclusion.
“She is a great talent and has done well whenever she has got the opportunity. Bringing her here is about giving her exposure and experience before the World Cup,” she said of Anushka Sharma, who played for the Gujarat Giants in the Women’s Premier League and scored 177 runs in 7 matches.
“Kashvee (Gautam) is also very talented. She can contribute both batting and bowling and she is a great fielder. Having these kinds of players is very important,” she said. “Bringing her to T20 cricket is very important because now Aman is not here (due to injury) and she is someone who can do really well for the team.”
She also specified that choosing Uma Chhetry over G Kamalini was a decision dictated by continuity.
“These matches are important to ensure all players get equal opportunities so that we are fully ready as a unit going into the World Cup. At the same time, we are here to win,” she noted.
“Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but it’s important to focus on what lies ahead. Our main target is the T20 World Cup, and we want to play good cricket leading into it to regain full confidence,” she said.
India will play two T20Is in Durban followed by two matches in Johannesburg, with the final match set to be played at Benoni.