"We had a camp where we did not touch skills" - Amol Muzumdar on India's mental preparations ahead of 2024 Women's T20 World Cup

India Women's coach Amol Muzumdar has opened up on the team's mental preparations heading into the 2024 Women's T20 World Cup to be held in the UAE from October 3 to October 20. Muzumdar revealed that the Women in Blue players had detailed interactions with sports psychologist Mugdha Bavare during the preparatory camps at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.

India's mindset in crunch games in ICC events has been questioned as they have faltered in knockout matches on several occasions. The senior Indian women's team is yet to win a World Cup. They have finished runners-up twice in the one-day format and also came second best in the final of the 2020 T20 World Cup, going down to Australia at the MCG.

India will be looking to things right in the UAE during the 2024 Women's T20 World Cup. At the pre-departure press conference on Tuesday, September 24, Muzumdar shed light on how the Women in Blue have prepared mentally for the ICC event. He said (as quoted by Cricbuzz):

"We had a camp where we did not touch skills. In that we tried to introduce the psychologist. That is an area we would like to tap into. I was pretty happy with the results, what we had by the end of the camp. There were certain things that we tried to address. Mugdha Bavare was with us and she's been fantastic with the group and she continues to be there."

Psychologist Bavare will be with the Indian women's squad during the 2024 T20 World Cup in the UAE. India will begin their campaign with a match against New Zealand in Dubai on October 4.

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"If you ask for game time, we have ticked that box" - Muzumdar on India's camps ahead of 2024 Women's T20 World Cup

The Indian women's team had multiple camps at the NCA in Bengaluru as part of their preparations for the T20 World Cup. The focus at these training sessions ranged from fitness and fielding to game time. Muzumdar expressed confidence that India have ticked most of the boxes concerning preparations.

"We did a lot of fitness and fielding in the first camp; the entire 15 days were delegated to that aspect of the game. This was specifically done for those two areas where the skills weren't touched," the Indian coach asserted.

"The next camp was just the skill camp where we focused not just on the net session but we also had almost 5 games in 10 days time. So if you ask for game time, we have ticked that box. And we played some very competitive games," Muzumdar concluded.

India made it to the semifinals of the 2023 Women's T20 World Cup held in South Africa. However, in a close knockout clash, they went down to Australia by five runs at Newlands in Cape Town.