‘Hopefully, we will try and break that barrier,’ Harmanpreet Kaur on India’s prospects at ODI World Cup

‌India Women have been in scintillating form in their build-up to the ODI World Cup 2025 campaign at home. After their 3-0 whitewash of the West Indies in late December 2024, the Women in Blue went on to beat Ireland by the same margin before pocketing the Tri Series tournament, which also had host Sri Lanka and South Africa participating in it.

And India extended their good run with a 2-1 result against England in the recently-concluded three-match duel last month. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur and vice-captain Smriti Mandhana sounded confident about India’s performance ahead of the marquee event and hoped India would break the duck in the home campaign starting from September 30.

"Playing in front of a home crowd, that is always special, and hopefully, this time we will give our 100% and try to break that barrier that all Indian fans and we are waiting for," Harmanpreet said at the International Cricket Council’s event to start the 50-day countdown for the World Cup.

"To be honest, the confidence is very high because of the amount of cricket we have played in the last couple of years. And touchwood, the way we are playing the last couple of years, we just want to continue with that. I think it is all about mindset and fearless cricket we have been playing," Harmanpreet said.

India beat hosts England comfortably during the white-ball tour, which concluded last month. First, they won the five-match T20I series 3-2 before going on to win the ODI series 2-1 to carry the winning momentum into their final stretch of preparations. Deepthi Sharma, Harmanpreet, and rookie pacer Kranti Goud all had impressive outings, with the skipper acknowledging the hard work the side had put in before the tour.

"We were not surprised with the results [in England] because we knew the kind of preparation we had done," Harmanpreet said. "I think we have been working very hard for it. We were only talking about how we can win, how we can improve ourselves. So, for us, it was not like we had done something great. [The result] was because of our routines, and we want to keep doing the same things, again and again."

"The amount of training we are doing and the efforts we are putting in our training camps, that is finally giving us a result, and hopefully this World Cup will be very special. We are working hard here each day, day in, day out,” vice-captain Smriti Mandhana added.

Mandhana has had a standout season in one-dayers this year, leading the overall run-scorers charts with 628 runs from 11 matches. She averages 57.09 with a strike rate of 107.53, with two hundreds and two fifties to her name. The left-handed opener also scored a match-winning century in the final of the Tri-Series against Sri Lanka earlier this year that helped her side win the tournament.

"I think more than my mindset, the work ethic has changed quite a lot in the last two or three years," Mandhana said. "And because of that, there is a lot of calmness around how I want to go about my cricket. And not only for me - I think the whole team is heading in that direction, we know where we have to work hard.

India Women will play a three-match ODI series against Australia from September 14 before starting their World Cup campaign against Sri Lanka in Bangalore on September 30. And Harmanpreet rightly feels that the Australian duel will help India understand where they stand ahead of the marquee event.

"Well, whenever we play against Australia, that is always challenging because they are very competitive and you always have to know where you are standing, and areas you need to improve as a team," Harmanpreet said. "I think right before the World Cup, that series is going to give us a lot of clarity, and hopefully, along with that, we will play our best cricket, and I think the same momentum will continue before the World Cup."