Banking on mental strength & fitness to do well, says Harmanpreet

A long break can create doubts in your mind, but India's T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur is banking on her mental strength and physical activity during the lockdown period to fire in the Women's T20 Challenger games which will take place during the playoffs of the IPL in the UAE. The team has not played since the T20 World Cup final in March.

"When there is a long break and after that however good touch you are in, you start doubting yourself," Harmanpreet said on Wednesday during a webinar interaction on the sidelines of the launch of WTF fantasy gaming app. Harmanpreet and veteran India batsman Suresh Raina are the brand ambassadors.

"Mental strength helps here and if you are mentally strong, it's a long break. But I am not going to give up. Initially, I might have fear of injury but we have the advantage of working on our strength while at home. Those things are going to help us on the field. But physically we have tried to keep ourselves fit during this lockdown," said the 31-year old.

Harmanpreet added that she is excited to play in the UAE for the first time.

"Yes definitely, I'm excited because this is our first tour to Dubai and we haven't played there before. I had questions like how would the wickets be there, as a batter we need to think about these things. We need to play on our strength because if you don't play to your strengths, then your natural game doesn't come out.

"It is a very good idea to see the ball and play. Everybody has to remain clean on this idea and I hope that we grab the opportunity that we get. I hope we play good cricket in the four games that we will get and entertain everybody," she said. - IANS