The wickets and the grounds will be an absolute surprise for us, says Harmanpreet Kaur on playing in UAE

Harmanpreet Kaur, India T20I captain, has said that she is looking forward to playing Women’s T20 Challenge in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The three-team event will take place in November during the IPL play-off week.

“This is the third edition of the women’s T20 challenge. I am looking forward to playing in a country where we have never played before,” she was quoted as saying by Femina.

“The wickets and the grounds will be an absolute surprise for us and I am already excited about being able to play good cricket.”

The 31-year-old said even though initial days of lockdown were hard, she now feels fresh after a long break and is keen to get back on the field.

“This time during the lockdown has been tough for me, and perhaps for all sportspersons across the globe” Kaur said.

“I have never experienced being indoors for this long and had no clue how one can survive. So, taking all the preventive measures, I decided to keep myself physically and mentally fit at home. I tried various new workouts, learnt how to cook and do household work, and most importantly, I got to spend a lot of time with my family which I have not done in the last ten years. I am eagerly waiting to get back on the field.”

“After a long break, there is a new essence and freshness in the way I feel about cricket.”

Kaur, who has led India in 59 T20Is so far, denied captaincy adding pressure to her performance and talked about how it serves as a motivation to take up responsibility.

“The role of a captain is to lead, support and become the most responsible person of the team. One major responsibility is to keep my team united and work towards the same goal. The position rarely adds pressure to my performance. Rather, it motivates me to always keep myself positive in tough situations. A lot relies on how you keep yourself calm even if the conditions are not favourable and keep motivating each other in the team to fight until the end.”

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“To be honest, I did not even know that I was playing my 100th T20 match that day till my team organised a meeting session before the game to surprise me with something special,” said Kaur, the first Indian to play 100 T20Is, about her feat.

“All my teammates had created a music video for me showing love and appreciation. That moment was extremely emotional for me and I realised how much I loved and admired this journey along with the people who supported me throughout this time.”

India last played international cricket when they faced Australia in the final of the T20 World Cup 2020 at the MCG in March. Kaur believed the experience of the tournament will help the team going forward even as she expressed her disappointment about the loss in the final.

“Coming that far and not bagging the trophy was disheartening. We were numb at one point in time,” she said.

Harmanpreet Kaur gives a final pep talk before heading onto the field. © ICC

“With time passing, I realised that we did come a long way with such a young team. That deserved appreciation and encouragement. I know we were a step away from creating history, but sometimes all you need to do is give it another chance. As the captain, I was proud of my team. We may have lost the title, but we carried several good memories back, which will help us grow in many ways.”

Kaur, who made her debut as a 19-year-old, feels women’s cricket has grown in popularity and visibility over her career and is at a much better place currently.

“I realised this at the beginning of my career that in order to get women’s cricket equivalent to men’s, we will have to work a lot harder and get people to watch our sport and appreciate it as much. Even as a child, when I thought of playing for the country, I thought that I would have to play with the boys! When I started my career at the age of 17, I was probably the only girl to play cricket in my town. I had to take all the initiative, go the whole mile myself.”

“Considering the current scenario, I feel positive about the changes in women’s cricket over the past few years. The comparison between both male and female sport was visible about a decade ago. The reasons, I feel, are that there was limited coverage when matches were not televised, the media hardly covered the sporting events, therefore people were not aware of women’s cricket. In the last few years, the team performance has gone up, which has added to the popularity and, I believe, in the coming years there will be no difference between men’s and women’s cricket,” Kaur concluded.

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