Tigresses unfazed by high-flying India

Captain Salma Khatun urged the Tigresses not to dwell on India's stunning opening victory against Australia and instead focus on getting their performance right when they take on their neighbours in Bangladesh's opening match of the Women's T20 World Cup at the WACA today.

India's impressive bowling display lit up the opening match of the tournament in Sydney on Friday and Poonam Yadav playing a starring role under lights with four wickets to halt the defending champions' chase and seal a Group A win for her side.

"We're not worried about the result between India and Australia. We're just focused on ourselves. All our girls gave 100 per cent into the warm-up match against Pakistan and we hope to make a positive start to this World Cup," Salma said in the pre-match press conference yesterday.

Cautioning her side, all-rounder Veda Krishnamurthy had said India could not afford to be distracted by the win over Australia and urged them to focus on the task at hand against Bangladesh.

Salma also wrote in an exclusive column on the ICC's website on the eve of the game and said that Bangladesh were excited and looking forward to the event as it is a massive opportunity and a stage for them to show that they can play quality cricket.

"If we can be competitive, aggressive and play without inhibition then we should have moments where we can get ourselves in advantageous positions. If we get our processes right then the result will take care of itself. Fight hard and compete until the very last ball -- that's all I ask of my team.

"We have some of the top teams in the world in our group. But when you come to a tournament like this, you cannot think in terms of good and weak opponents. We won the Asia Cup in 2018 by believing in ourselves against all odds. We need to have the same mentality in the World Cup also," she stated.

"As captain, it is a great honour. I feel very fortunate. The role comes with a lot of responsibility as Bangladesh is a cricket-crazy nation and the people love us and expect good things from us. Now it is all about handling pressure situations and fitness. These are key elements that often decide matches at this level, and they are the differences between the top teams and the rest.

"Sometimes it is not just down to better players, but what people can do with the opportunities they have at any given time. So our goal is to see what we can do against these teams and push ourselves to the next level."