Page 50 - The Indian EYE 092024

SPORTS SEPTEMBER 20, 2024 | The Indian Eye 50

Ahead of ICC T20 World Cup, top players

talk of big change in women’s cricket

India will kickstart their campaign against New Zealand on October 4,

with the arch-rivals Pakistan clash set for October 6

OUR BUREAU
Mumbai

s the women’s ICC T20 World Cup comes
close, the Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur
Aopened up on her journey as a professional
cricketer and how emerging as a cricketer from a city
where it had very little presence was not easy for her.
The upcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup
will start from October 3 onwards in UAE. India
will kickstart their campaign against New Zealand
on October 4, with the arch-rivals Pakistan clash set
for October 6. The Women in Blue, who reached
the semi-finals in the previous edition, is placed in
Group A of the competition along with Australia,
New Zealand, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
Speaking on Star Sports, Harmanpreet, hail-
ing from Moga in Punjab, said, “It has been a beau-
tiful journey. I come from a city where there was
no cricket, and playing cricket professionally was
not easy for me. But my family supported me a lot,
and today, when I look back, it feels good. A lot of
people appreciate it.”
The skipper said that now a lot of girls are join-
ing not only cricket, but other sports as well and the
families are also taking sports seriously.
“When I started, no one saw sports as a career.
But now, parents want their kids to play well and
choose sports as a career. The way parents think
has changed, and it feels good to see that. In the
past, only a few parents encouraged their kids in
sports, but now, regardless of what they do, parents
take pride if their child excels in sports. I think that Indian cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur speaks after being conferred with the Most matches as captain
is a big change,” she added.
Harmanpreet also spoke about the diversity in women’s T20I history (ANI)
in the Indian dressing room, saying that players
come from different backgrounds and states and India will begin their campaign against New there’s Smriti [Mandhana], Harmanpreet [Kaur],
it is good to have such diversity. “People from var- Zealand on October 4, with a highly anticipated and the next generation that has come up. Every-
ious states share the dressing room, and you get clash against arch-rival Pakistan scheduled for one knows about women’s cricket now. One of the
to learn about their cultures. I think you can only October 6. biggest changes over the last few years is the excite-
experience that in sports, not in any other career. It Rodrigues recalled that when she started play- ment around watching our games,” the right-hand-
is a beautiful feeling. All the girls on the team are ing cricket, she was only aware of two players, for- ed batter added.
really nice and humble. It feels great to share the mer India Women’s captain Mithali Raj and for- “People now come and say they don’t care if
dressing room with them and play cricket togeth- mer right-arm seamer Jhulan Goswami. “When we it’s a men’s or women’s team; they just want to see
er,” she added. started playing cricket, at least for me personally, the Indian team play. That excitement, that ‘josh’
While excelling as a leader and batter in other the only two names I knew were Jhulan Goswa- we get, is a turning point, and being part of this
formats, Harmanpreet has also scored 3,426 runs mi and Mithali Raj. I didn’t even know how they generation is the biggest motivation for us,” the
in 173 T20Is at an average of 28.08, with a century looked, honestly, because there were no televised 24-year-old concluded.
and 12 fifties in 153 innings. Her best score is 103. games. They achieved success without recognition Squad:
She has also taken 32 wickets in the format. or fame, and we are now enjoying the fruits of what Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Sha-
Ahead of the upcoming ICC Women’s T20 they have sown. Because of them, we are here,” fali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues,
World Cup 2024 in the United Arab Emirates Jemimah said while speaking to Star Sports. Richa Ghosh (wk), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Pooja Vas-
(UAE), star India Women’s batter Jemimah Ro- The cricketer further mentioned that one of trakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, Dayalan
drigues expressed her thoughts on the growing sup- the key changes in recent years has been the grow- Hemalatha, Asha Sobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka
port for women’s cricket over the past few years. ing excitement to watch women’s matches. “Now Patil, Sajana Sajeevan

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