Defending champions India will begin their journey towards a record eighth Asia Cup title when they take on arch-rivals Pakistan in Dambulla on Friday.

New Delhi: Ahead of her team's Women's Asia Cup campaign against Pakistan, Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur spoke about the importance of a good team atmosphere and how she tries to keep all her teammates comfortable with each other.

Defending champions India will begin their journey towards a record eighth Asia Cup title when they take on arch-rivals Pakistan in Dambulla on Friday.

Talking about her role as the captain of the team, Kaur told Star Sports that a good atmosphere in the dressing room, where everyone is comfortable and willing to share feelings with each other, makes the team perform better on the field.

“I think there should be an atmosphere in the team where everyone enjoys each other's company and can share their feelings with each other. And when the atmosphere is like that, the team performs better too,” said the skipper.

“So, my intention as a leader is that you all feel each other at ease. And when you don't enjoy it, you feel like you have to go and play with players you're not comfortable with. But if you think you're going to play with your friends and help the team win, it's a different feeling. So we want an environment where everyone is happy, supports each other and has good results. So it is my intention as a leader that everyone should talk well with each other, enjoy each other's company and support each other whenever the going gets tough. So those things are very important to me as a leader,” she added.

In the lead-up to the Women's Asia Cup, Team India has enjoyed several successes on the field, such as defeating South Africa 3-0 in the ODI series in June-July and recently drawing 1 in the one-off Test and three-match T20I series in June-July. -1, rain washed out a game.

Before that, India had a successful tour of Bangladesh, defeating them 5-0 in a T20I in April-May.
Between December and January last year, India hosted Australia for one ODI, three ODIs and one T20I each, winning the Test match, but losing the ODI series 0–3 and the T20I series 1–2.

All these series/tournaments will be crucial for India's preparations for the ICC Women's T20 World Cup to be held in Bangladesh from October 3-20 this year, where India will aim to win the ICC Women's Trophy for the first time.

India Women's Asia Cup Team: India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodriguez, Richa Ghosh (wk), Uma Chetri (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh Thakur , Dayalan Hemlata, Asha Shobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, Sajna Sajivan. Travel Reserves: Shweta Sehrawat, Saika Ishaq, Tanuja Kanwar, Meghna Singh.