Learnt from our past mistakes, and hopefully we are on the other side this time, says Harmanpreet Kaur ahead of World Cup

To lead the country in a home World Cup is a rare honour. But when India meets Sri Lanka on September 30 in Guwahati in the ICC Women’s World Cup opener, Harmanpreet Kaur will have that bestowed on her.

The 36-year-old is understandably chuffed, and eager to become India’s first World Cup-winning captain, hoping to erase past memories of having lost in the final twice – in 2005 to Australia and in 2017 to England.

“I’m sure this time we will cross this line,” Harmanpreet said here on Friday at the Captains’ Day event. “We have been playing good cricket and we are only talking about enjoying this moment. We have learnt from our [past] mistakes, and hopefully this time we will be on the other side.”

In this quest, a shot in the arm is Smriti Mandhana’s form, with the world’s best-ranked ODI batter making scores of 125, 117 and 58 against the visiting Aussies recently.

“She’s been great, to be honest,” Harmanpreet stated. “The way she’s batting nowadays… it’s really exciting to watch from outside. Especially when I’m batting with her, things are quite easy. You don’t need to stress too much because she’s always there to help, and having her is a big strength for us.”

But the skipper knows it will be a tightly contested World Cup. “Every team has an equal chance to win, and that shows that we have really raised the standard of women’s cricket,” she opined.

“We now have packed stadiums. That is something we really enjoy because we have never seen that before. It’s been a really outstanding journey so far and we are really looking forward to this World Cup, and many more years ahead.”