India women open their campaign against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Sunday evening.

India captain Harmanpreet Kaur has been happy with her side’s preparations though they lost one of their warm-up matches in the lead-up to the tournament. Keeper Rich Ghosh looked good with the bat.

“These two practice games have given us a lot of confidence... how Richa batted I think that’s a big positive for us,” Harmanpreet said.

“That’s a big belief that if we stay on the pitch, we can turn the game any time and I think these two (warm-up) games have given a lot of confidence and hopefully we’ll play fearless cricket in our first game.”

Harmanpreet will be among seven players to play in all 10 editions of the tournament. Coach Amol Muzumdar has reminded the players that past glory won’t win them matches, especially with a complete shift in the game’s dynamics.

“It’s a completely different format, isn’t it? I mean, yes, we won the World Cup but that was in the ODIs, this is a brand new format,” he noted, emphasising that the shorter format demands quicker reflexes, tighter margins, and leaves almost no room for error. “One thing I can assure you that we would take a lot from that World Cup, getting into this tournament because we know for a fact that we will cross the line.”

Muzumdar knows that the players will have to show more than just skills in a high-stakes opener and said the players were ready for it.

Pakistan captain Fatima Sana had an injury scare during the team’s practice on Saturday when she was hit on her right shin.

England, Australia and Scotland women won their opening matches. England beat Sri Lanka by 87 runs while Australia defeated South Africa by 65 runs.