'Need to win the series at any cost' - Harmanpreet Kaur raring to go in the T20 series against Australia

Even though India women have not won a lot of games on the Australia tour, they have given the mighty Australians a run for their money. Australia women won the ODI series 2-1 but the scoreline could have been India’s way had Jhulan Goswami not bowled a no-ball in the final over of the second ODI. The team bounced back to win the third ODI and then dominated the hosts in the historic Day-Night Test.

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The caravan now moves to the T20I series. India and Australia’s last meet in a T20I game was in the T20 World Cup final where Australia defeated India to win the title. The Women in Blue have more than one reason to go all-out at the Australians. A win in the T20I series will be a massive boost for the young India team.

India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur will be back leading the team having missed out in the ODI series and the lone Test due to injury. The skipper is raring to go and said she wants to win the series at any cost. "It is unfortunate that I missed the ODIs and Tests but if I had more days between ODIs and the Test match, I could have recovered and played. But it is past now," Harmanpreet said on the eve of the first T20 International here on Thursday.

"We now just want to go all out and win the series at any cost. These three matches are very important for us." Harmanpreet said getting an opportunity to play all three formats during a tour is a great sign for women's cricket as a whole.

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India women have played two Tests this year and Harmanpreet is elated that they are getting an opportunity to play all versions of the game. "Earlier we used to play mostly ODIs and T20s but now we are getting the opportunity to play all the three formats which is good for us. I feel everybody should get equal opportunity," she said.

She looked confident of India’s chances and said the team is keen to get a series win in Australia under their belt. "Before this series, we played against South Africa and England after almost a year but I can say that we are now in great shape.

She also talked about the challenges of playing in bio-bubbles but said that players have to accept that we are in middle of a pandemic and things won’t be normal for a while. "We didn't get to play cricket for the last one year and then we got the opportunity. But it was tough to live in bio-bubbles, spending long time away from friends and family and follow all rules and regulations. But that is how it is," she said.