The ninth edition of the Women's Asia Cup commenced today with the Group A clash between Nepal and UAE at Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium in Dambulla. Ahead of the tournament, on July 18 (Thursday), captains' photoshoot with the trophy and press conference took place at the same venue where the likes of Harmanpreet Kaur, Nida Dar and other skippers opened up on their chances in the competition.
During the press conference, Kaur encountered a weird question from one of the journalists where he was seen asking her about the lack of coverage for Women's cricket. He also pointed out the lack of interest in coverage during India's tour of Bangladesh where controversy had happened regarding poor umpiring with India captain openly criticising the officials.
Coming back to the journalist's question, Harmanpreet Kaur was in splits while responding stating that the she cannot make sure the coverage is good and also asked the journalists present in the room to cover Women's cricket extensively. "Well's that's none of my business. You guys have to come and cover us," she said while laughing over the question asked.
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As far as India is concerned, they have been slotted in group A alongside Nepal, UAE and Pakistan. India will face arch-rivals Pakistan on July 19 at 7 PM IST while their matches UAE and Nepal are scheduled on July 21 and 23 respectively. The Women in Blue have won the Asia Cup a staggering seven times in eight editions with Bangladesh winning once. Yet again, Harmanpreet Kaur and her troops are the favourites to lift the trophy.
India squad for Asia Cup 2024: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (WK), Uma Chetry (WK), Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh Thakur, Dayalan Hemalatha, Asha Sobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, Sajana Sajeevan
Travelling reserves: Shweta Sehrawat, Saika Ishaque, Tanuja Kanwer, Meghna Singh
