'We can beat Australia any day': India captain Harmanpreet Kaur ahead of ODI series against Aussies
India are set to host the World Champions, Australia, in a three-match ODI series from Sunday, September 14 onwards as they enter the final preparation mode for the ODI World Cup 2025. India captain Harmanpreet Kaur feels India have improved in several key areas, and with the results, she believes the Women in Blue can get the better of the mighty Aussies on any day.
"We have been working hard for the last year and showing improvement every day, but if we talk about Australia, they have had a very good setup for a long time, and they have been playing dominating cricket," Harmanpreet told the media ahead of the first ODI here.
Kaur highlighted that everyone in the team now feels they can get the better of the Aussies. "We have entered that race now, and with the Indian team’s performance in the last one year and a half years, we are at that stage where everyone is thinking we can beat them."
"In the past, we used to work hard for that, but now we have seen in so many areas, especially in fielding and fitness, we were working on it, but now, the results have also started coming (for us). No doubt, they (Australia) have been very dominating," she said.
"They have played very good cricket around the world and have dominated as well, but the stage we are at, as a captain, I personally feel there is a belief that we have a good team and we can beat them any day," she added.
Meanwhile, the India skipper highlighted India's series wins over England in both the ODIs and T20Is. “The process for the last one-year-and-a-half has been so that we have seen a lot of improvement.
The last series, which we played in England, we beat one of their best sides, and that shows somewhere we are doing a lot of things correctly and are on the right track,” she added.
Harmanpreet also pointed out the collective time that this bunch of Indian cricketers have spent together as one of the factors in the team's performance improvement.
"Most of the girls have been playing together for many years. We know what we can do for the team. The belief is there that we can beat any team on any day, and that is something which is very important," she said.
"Wherever and whenever you are playing, you have to have that belief, and results will automatically follow. The belief is there that we can do well, hopefully we play our best cricket in these three matches and change whatever the stats suggest," Harmanpreet added.
