GUWAHATI: India captain Harmanpreet Kaur on Monday said the team’s all-round depth gives them a “high chance” of winning the Women’s Cricket World Cup title, especially as they play on home soil.

The 13th edition of the women’s showpiece 50-over tournament begins Tuesday, with co-hosts India to face Sri Lanka in the opener in Guwahati.

The Indian women made it to two ODI World Cup finals but lost on both occasions — going down to England by nine runs the last time around in 2017 at Lord’s.

But Kaur’s team have improved in leaps and bounds from the previous edition in 2022 when Australia won a record-extending seventh title.

“India I mean, we do have a high chance to be honest,” Kaur told reporters on the eve of the opener. “I’m not just saying because we have advantage of playing at home, but the amount of cricket we have played and the results we have got in last couple of years. I think that shows we have a depth in our game, whether it’s batting or bowling. We have improved in a lot of areas.”

India recently went down to Australia 2-1 in three ODIs at home but posted big scores with their batting led by prolific opener Smriti Mandhana.

The bowling showed promise with up-and-coming medium-pacer Kranti Goud leading the charge with five wickets alongside Australia’s Megan Schutt, who also picked five in the three matches.

Kaur will be leading India for the first time in the marquee tournament and said the combination of good performance and home support will be key.

“I think home conditions and home World Cup is always very special, and I am sure they [fans] are going to come here and support us throughout the tournament,” said Kaur. “We both, as a team and as a fan, I think we’ll try to create a special memory for both sides.”

Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu said India remain favourites at home but the island nation will play without pressure.

“India is favourite in this World Cup... they know the condition and the ground support, spectators, so everything with them,” said Athapaththu. “But my plan was I want to play our best cricket in front of everyone. We don’t want to take too much pressure on our shoulders.”

Pakistan will play all their matches in Colombo as part of a compromise deal that allows both India and Pakistan to play at neutral venues in multi-nation tournaments.

Top-ranked and seven-time champions Australia will be trying to prevent India from winning the title and they have plenty of motivation to become the first team to win consecutive Women’s World Cups since 1988, and a powerhouse squad to achieve the feat.

The defending champions have long dominated the 50-over game, winning seven of the 12 World Cups since the tournament was first played in 1973. They were runners-up on two other occasions.

No team other than Australia has successfully defended the World Cup. They won three on the trot between 1978-88, but that was 37 years ago.

Vice-captain Tahlia McGrath said snapping the back-to-back drought when they pad up in India and Sri Lanka was a key driver.

Erasing bitter memories of being knocked out in the semi-finals of the Twenty20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates last year, when they were three-time defending champions, will also spur them on.

“An ODI World Cup is special, they’re probably the pinnacle,” McGrath told reporters. “For the players that were in Dubai [in 2024] it adds that bit of motivation, not a nice feeling the way we exited. And then the extra little bit of motivation as well that we want to be the first team in a while to go back-to-back [in the] ODI World Cup.”

There is also a major financial incentive after the International Cricket Council quadrupled the prize pool.

The winners will get US$4.48 million, a 239 percent increase from the cheque Australia earned as champions three years ago.

Second-ranked England arrive with new leadership — Charlotte Edwards is now coach and Nat Sciver-Brunt takes over the captaincy. Eight of their starting XI from the 2022 final are in the squad but their form coming into the tournament has been patchy.

Fourth-ranked New Zealand will be keen to adapt to Indian conditions in order to repeat their success at the 2024 Twenty20 World Cup.

Fifth-ranked South Africa have retained their core from the last two T20 World Cups — captain Laura Wolvaardt and all-rounders Marizanne Kapp and Nadine de Klerk.

The final will be played on November 2.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2025