The Bengaluru camp comprised five intra-squad T20 games in a span of ten days, and coach Amol Muzumdar explained it was specifically done for aspects that went beyond mere skills.

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Captain @ImHarmanpreet speaks ahead of #TeamIndia‘s departure for the #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/5UHFLFTskD

— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) September 24, 2024

“We had a camp where we did not touch skills, in that, we tried to introduce the psychologist. That is an area we would like to tap into. I was pretty happy with the results, what we had, by the end of the camp. There were certain things that we tried to address. Mughda Bavare was with us and she’s been fantastic with the group and she continues to be there,” Muzumdar said.

Talking helps, reckoned skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, speaking ahead of their departure for the World Cup. She said that in a team game it is important for everyone to open up so that the team can offer help.

“We had a few sessions where we talked to each other, how we are feeling and how we want to go about it. With Mugdha’s help, there were a lot of sessions after which we felt well and then after executing it on the ground, we felt well. She’s really working hard on us, and so far it is really helping us,” Kaur stated.

The camp also focused on athletic abilities and the streamlined focus was to enhance these. Muzumdar stated that the team management had designed the camp specifically to concentrate on that aspect. “Some yoga sessions were added, some psychological sessions were added. Overall it was just a lovely camp. We identified a few areas and we tried to work upon it,” he said.

Learning from past

The team has addressed areas of concern and things where they might be going wrong. Kaur narrated how during the Asia Cup the team played good cricket throughout, but one odd game in the final, denied them the title. “There are a lot of areas where as a team, we sit and discuss how we have to go about it. We are working on that and the previous camp, we tried to find where we can improve if next time these same kind of situations come in our path and hopefully in this World Cup, we will try to play good cricket,” the Indian captain added.

The team is confident in their preparation but when asked whether lack of competitive game-time will hamper India’s performance, Muzumdar replied that as a team they have ticked boxes which they felt they needed to address.

“We did a lot of fitness and fielding in the first camp, the entire 15 days were delegated to that aspect of the game. The next camp was just the skills camp where we focused not just on the net session but we also had almost five games in 10 days’ time. So if you ask about game time, we have ticked that box. And we played some very competitive games. There were different oppositions, there were different skill sets that were chosen for those particular games. So as far as game time is concerned, I think we are on it,” he pointed out.

The Indian team has had to contend with the last minute change in venue from Bangladesh to UAE after the neighbouring country witnessed unrest. The International Cricket Council (ICC) decided to shift the T20 Women’s World Cup, and that needed tweaking of plans since the Indian team had planned their preparation keeping the Bangladesh venue in mind.

“It came as a surprise for everyone,” Muzumdar replied. Further elaborating, he said, “We had specifically gone to Bangladesh in May and played five T20Is to get used to conditions. But things have changed and it has shifted to Dubai. I think conditions would be similar to what we have over here in India at start of the IPL season, in my experience. And I think there will be a little bit of bounce on the surfaces in Dubai especially. But rest of the conditions, they remain the same, just like India.”

India begin their T20 WC campaign on October 4 when they take on New Zealand in Dubai. They are placed in a group with Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia alongside the Kiwis.