Rejuvenated after scoring a massive win over the West Indies, India will look to make their road to the semifinals easier when they face a beleaguered England in a crucial match of the Women's ODI World Cup at Mount Maunganui on Wednesday.
India's campaign in the tournament so far has been a roller-coaster ride - they started off with a resounding 107-run win over Pakistan, suffered a 62-run defeat against New Zealand, and then hammered West Indies by 155 runs, with their star bats Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur scoring superb centuries.
England, on the other hand, have hardly played like the defending champions, and are in danger of an early exit following close defeats in their first three games to Australia (12 runs), West Indies (7 runs) and South Africa (three wickets).
Having lost to England in the final of the 2017 World Cup, India, currently placed third on the points table, would love to stay in the top four and rub salt into their opponents' wounds by scoring a win which would almost end the campaign for Heather Knight's team, which is languishing at the seventh spot.
At a virtual presser on Tuesday, Harmanpreet said that heading into to this important clash, momentum was with India. "There is no thought of revenge on our mind. If you look at the overall record (between India and England in WODIs), we started the last World Cup also with a win over England. It is all about the momentum and that is with us right now. It is important for the team to stay in this moment and not to think about the past," she said.
The best part about India's spectacular win over West Indies was that, following instructions from coach Ramesh Powar, they showed intent from the start, with opener Yastika Bhatia taking the pressure off Mandhana by stroking a flurry of boundaries. India will look to dish out a similar brand of cricket against England too.
"I think for us, (it is) very important the way we performed in the last game, we just need to continue that, rather than thinking about what your negative and positive points are," Harmanpreet said.
India, though, would want three of their top batters- skipper Mithali Raj, Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh to find form soon.
