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Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said that she is happy with her team's busy schedule ahead of the T20 World Cup, saying that it will enable their growth and improvement as cricketers. After a historic 50-over World Cup triumph last year, she expressed hope that the Women in Blue would get to experience more such moments.
Harmanpreet was speaking to ANI at the organisation of a fitness event by PUMA and HYROX at Bengaluru on Saturday. After an all-format tour to Australia spanning February-March, India will now tour South Africa for five T20Is from 17 April onwards, followed by a three-T20I tour to England from May 28. From June 14 onwards, Team India will start their T20 World Cup campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan at Birmingham. India is in a competitive Group A with Pakistan, Australia, South Africa, Bangladesh, and the Netherlands. Speaking to ANI about the team's schedule, Harmanpreet said, "We just want to keep playing all the time. It is good to see that our schedule is quite busy. We need to keep playing cricket back to back. Because that will help us to grow as cricketers and improve our game." I am really happy with this busy schedule. And hopefully, we will keep getting more matches in the future," she added. On her team's World Cup win, their first-ever across ODI and T20I formats last year, she termed the win as the "biggest thing in our lives". "We all wanted to come together and perform really well for our country. It is a great feeling after winning the World Cup. Hopefully, in future, we will experience many more moments like that," she added. The Indian skipper said that after the World Cup, more people recognised them. "When you do something great in your life, many people will come and appreciate you. And we have seen that appreciation from many people. It is a great feeling overall, and I am really happy that now people are more aware of women's cricket. And they want to see women playing on TV even more. Hopefully, we will keep doing our best on the field," she continued. Hailing the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) for their efforts to uplift women's cricket, she said, "ICC and BCCI have given much more importance not only to the IPL but also to the WPL. The viewership of the WPL has massively increased. The matches are coming on TV. People should come and watch." "And I think that can only happen if you keep doing well, keep performing well. And you can attract all the attention towards the game. So I think our responsibility is to keep improving and keep giving our best on the field," she signed off. During the event, PUMA ambassador Sindhu competed in a mixed relay format, taking on eight 1 km runs paired with eight functional workout stations, including the sled push and rowing in a fitness race that demanded endurance, energy, strength, and everything in between. While badminton and cricket met on a common ground, the Bengaluru edition of the fitness race recorded more than 8200 participants across categories, underscoring strong community turnout and growing interest in HYROX as a competitive format. HYROX came to India in 2025 with events in Mumbai and Delhi, drawing more than 7,000 participants. (ANI)
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