Hope India women's team breaks World Cup jinx this time, says BCCI secretary Saikia

Mumbai, Sep 21 (PTI) BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia on Sunday hoped that the Indian women's team would end a long wait to win a World Cup trophy when the 50-overs showpiece event begins in Guwahati on September 30.

India, who are co-hosting the eight-team tournament with Sri Lanka, will take on the team from the island nation in the first match which will be preceded by an opening ceremony.

India will aim to end a long drought as they have never won the women's World Cup in any of the past 12 editions.

"In the past, warm-up matches were held for the ICC (Men's) World Cup and for the first time the ICC Women's World Cup will start from Guwahati. The opening match will be played between India and Sri Lanka," Saikia told the media here at the BCCI headquarters.

"As the matches are being held in India as well as in Sri Lanka, everybody is backing our Indian team. Recently, they have done extremely well in England also, which is a big achievement for the Indian team." "(The) Indian women's cricket has come of age and I am sure they will produce a remarkable performance in the upcoming World Cup. I hope that the jinx will be broken this time," Saikia said.

Saikia said the recently-concluded ODI series between India and Australia, which the visitors won 2-1, was a "keenly contested" affair.

"It was a very keenly contested series, which Australia won 2-1. But India played extremely well. Australia is a very good team, but India is catching up. Till now, India has not won any ICC women's trophy, so this is a big opportunity for the team to do well," he said.

The BCCI secretary said 40 minutes of the opening ceremony ahead of the Women's World Cup will be dedicated to Indian singer Zubeen Garg, who died in Singapore on Friday after suffering injuries in a scuba diving incident. He was 52 years old.

Saikia said the Assam Cricket Association and the BCCI are working together to pay tribute to the singer.

"There is a huge grief and tragic situation prevailing in Assam, following Zubeen's death. Keeping in consonance with that situation, and as a person who deserves some respect, the Assam Cricket Association and the BCCI will have a tribute programme during the opening ceremony. This will be our respect and tribute to Zubeen," he said.

"It will be a 40-minute programme in memory of Zubeen and possibly the biggest tribute a cricketing fraternity can offer to him," said Saikia.

Shreya Ghoshal will also perform during the mid-innings break of the tournament opener, Saikia added. PTI DDV AH AH