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From Harmanpreet To Healy; Captains Share Thoughts On Women's T20 World Cup 2024

ICC Women's World Cup 2024 begins with traditional captain's day event (@windiescricket/X.com)ICC Women's World Cup 2024 begins with traditional captain's day event (@windiescricket/X.com)

The ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 officially kicked off with the traditional Captains' Day, a media event that brought together the skippers of all participating teams ahead of the tournament opener. Held in Dubai, the event saw captains sharing their thoughts on the competition, their team's preparations, and the significance of the World Cup.

The tournament is set to begin on October 3, 2024. The tournament features 10 teams, including associate nations like Scotland. Matches will be held across multiple venues in Dubai and Sharjah as the tournament was shifted from host nation Bangladesh at the last moment.

Captains from powerhouse teams like Australia, India, England, South Africa, and New Zealand expressed their excitement and confidence ahead of the highly anticipated tournament. Australia, led by Alyssa Healy, enters the tournament as defending champions, while India, captained by Harmanpreet Kaur, looks to break through after consistently strong performances in recent years.

Here's what all captains said on Women's T20 World Cup 2024 preparations

India Captain Harmanpreet Kaur: “I think that is something we keep learning every day. Because when you win, sometimes you feel, OK, that is something I have achieved. But at the same time, next day when you go, you may make small mistakes. And I think that is part of the game. I think learning is something which is never going to stop. Every day I'm going and learning and getting experience from every game. Yeah, I think people around me, they are helping me, they are working hard to make our team go at that level where we want to be. I am happy with where our team is, like how our team is working hard to achieve small, small things."

Australia Captain Alyssa Healy: "There are 10 teams sitting on the stage here today that deserve to be here and have a real shot of winning this World Cup. You don't come here to defend a title, that's not what a World Cup is about, you come here to win it, so we're here with that approach and I'm excited to get underway. Our pool is quite a tricky one. We’ve got to get past a lot of these teams to be able to lift the trophy and it's a challenge we're excited for."

England Captain Heather Knight: "I think captaincy is always a constant challenge. I don't think you need that freshness as a captain. You've always been challenged in different ways and trying to learn little tricks and trying to grow in everything you do. But I think as you're there more, you learn to get your messages across in slightly different ways using the people around you. I've got through a few coaches as well, so that kind of helps freshen things up. And obviously, the team's constantly evolving, which is a place where you're obviously keeping things fresh and finding different ways to say things."

Pakistan Captain Fatima Sana: "I will try to enjoy myself, express myself and back myself as well (as captain). Actually, our whole management is supporting me, and they told me that you just take a brave decision on the field, so just try to do this, be calm and just do whatever you want."

West Indies Captain Hayley Matthews: "You play all year long preparing and this is obviously the pinnacle of where you want to be as a team and where you want to be competing. Every series you play, every training session you have is towards that goal of a World Cup, so [preparation] definitely is a long process, and I think one as a West Indies team we've had in our sights for a very long time. So yeah, just hoping for some success."

New Zealand Captain Sophie Devine: "I think that's been the great thing about the women's game is the development and it's what's happened off the field I think that's helped achieve that. In terms of the quick bowlers you've seen the girls become more professional and what they've been able to do in the gym is starting to see bowlers hitting 120kms and more which it makes for a challenge. It's always exciting to be coming up against that but I think it just shows the development of the women's game that those sorts of skills continue to improve. We've got a number of young fast bowlers coming through. And again, their development has been massive the last 12 - 18 months so certainly looking forward to seeing what sort of bowlers they can turn into."

South Africa Captain Laura Wolvaardt: "I think obviously last year was great, but we're just looking to take it one game at a time. Obviously a very difficult pool, but hopefully we can make semi-finals and then anything can happen from that. The World Cup which will see 23 matches held over 18 days in the two host cities of Dubai and Sharjah, promises to entertain and inspire a new generation of cricket fans while serving as a transformative platform for women's cricket."

Bangladesh Captain Nigar Sultana: “It was disappointing (shift of venue). But we are professional. More than us, this is about everyone there. We are fortunate to be here and will provide some cheer for the fans. I’m expecting a lot of spectators because in Sharjah there are a lot of Bangladeshis there. And playing in this kind of event, I think more people will come watch us and support."

Sri Lanka Captain Chamari Athapaththu: "We are coming with the underdog tag all the time. So, we don't have any pressure. I don't want to take too much pressure on my shoulders and my teammate' shoulders. But we keep it simple. I have a very young team, so we have a few seniors as well. I hope we can continue our best performance, because we've been playing really good cricket the last 16 months. This is a different format and different conditions, so we have to start again, fresh days. So, keep it simple, one ball one time, one game one time."

Scotland Captain Kathryn Bryce: "I think we just really want to compete in this competition,” she said. We’ve played some fantastic cricket in the qualifiers and leading up to it, so I think we just want to go out there and do ourselves justice on that stage and put in some good performances against these teams."