Indian women’s cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur has said that last year’s ODI World Cup triumph on home soil has significantly boosted the team’s confidence and given them the self-belief that they can win anywhere in the world.

India defeated South Africa in Navi Mumbai to clinch their maiden ICC title in November 2025.

“Look, I believe that in any field, you have to do something special; you have to win a title, only then do you get recognition. Otherwise, it feels like all the hard work goes to waste,” Harmanpreet said on the sidelines of the naming ceremony of a stand in her honour at the Omaxe Stadium in Dwarka.

“Not just our team, but all the women cricketers before us have put in immense effort, often even spending from their own pockets. So, winning a title was very important. And after achieving that, the response we are getting from Indian fans, the media, and everyone else is a very big thing for us.”

Talking about the huge expectations from fans to repeat the success in this year’s T20 World Cup, the skipper said, “We’ll try our best (to win the T20 World Cup). The last World Cup outing gave us the confidence that we can now win any title at any ground, in front of any crowd in the world.”

On the multi-format series in Australia, which India lost 4-2 on points, Kaur said, “As cricketers, we have never gone through such an experience. This type of tournament with all three formats was a bit challenging for the team since we are used to playing ODIs and T20s.”

The series began with India winning the T20 leg before losing the ODI series and the lone Test match.