Harmanpreet Kaur used India’s World Cup match against the West Indies on Wednesday to give herself a glorified net session. The Indian captain felt she needed it having not played in either of her side’s warm-up matches before the tournament, while she made just 16 in the opening game against Pakistan. “I wanted to spend some time [at the crease],” she said after her team had secured a comfortable six-wicket win against the 2016 champions. “I didn't show any hurry because it was a chaseable total [given] our batting line-up. ” It is that batting line-up and its depth that has Kaur and India believing this World Cup is their time. India finished runners-up in the 50-over World Cup in 2017, runners-up at the last T20 World Cup in 2020 and were silver medallists at the Commonwealth Games last year, and are desperate to be rid of the bridesmaid tag. That latter defeat in Birmingham, by nine runs to Australia, stung. Kaur top scored with 65 as India fell just short. On Wednesday she scored 33 runs off 42 balls, a sedate tempo given her usually attacking method — and the way she wants her team to play. However, she took particular pleasure in young teammate Richa Ghosh’s performance. Ghosh was recently part of the Indian team’s triumph in the under-19 World Cup and showed all the exuberance of youth in scoring an unbeaten 44 off 32 balls. “I think it’s good to see she's understanding what is in her zone and which ball she can hit and which ball to take a single. So showing that maturity is something which we are really happy to see. ” Kaur described Ghosh and opener Shafali Verma, who captained India at the under-19 World Cup, as part of the new breed of Indian batters, who like their male counterparts more than a decade ago, don’t fear playing in foreign conditions or attacking deliveries targeting their bodies. “Well, they really like to play short balls,” smiled Kaur. “They are not the traditional Indian batters who like to play the drives and stuff like that. They know what is expected in international cricket and what type of balls you are going to face, when you are going to bat, what speed is going to come, and I think they are mature enough and understanding well they have to take responsibility and take us through in any situation. ” Meanwhile, 25-year-old Muneeba Ali scored the first century in this year’s tournament in Pakistan’s 70-run victory over Ireland at Newlands on Wednesday night. It was the first T20 International century by a Pakistani woman. Muneeba hit 14 fours, facing 68 balls and took advantage of Ireland’s sloppy fielding to help her side post 165/5. “Initially I got a good start in power play, then we were just building up a partnership. ” Muneeba and the veteran Nida Dar put on 101 for the third wicket, with Ireland’s fielding littered with dropped catches and miss-fields on the ground. “Then in the 12th to 13th over, we realised we can go big and also I can make 100. So, we were just pushing ourselves and kept on trying to score boundaries. ” Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times . Just R20 for the first month. .