Harmanpreet Kaur, India's vice-captain in one-day internationals, said on Wednesday that she has high expectations of herself and understands why people criticise her when she has a streak of poor results. The Women's 50-over World Cup kicks off on March 4 with New Zealand taking on the West Indies, followed by a single match amongst all eight nations to determine the top four, with the winner being declared on April 3 in Christchurch. On March 6, India will play against Pakistan on their World Cup debut.

"Well, I have high expectations of myself because I understand my role in the team. I always want to do well, but things don't always go your way, but the last two innings I played gave me a lot of confidence."

"When things aren't going well, people start gossiping, but the silver lining is that those near to me keep giving me confidence," Harmanpreet said during a virtual press conference in response to an ANI question.

"I owe them a debt of gratitude. When things get tough, optimistic thinking and talking can help a lot. I'm going back into my routine, and I'm hoping to keep it up," she continued.

Harmanpreet's form has been a major talking point in recent years, but she answered her critics with a fine century against South Africa in the first warm-up match. In the fifth and final One-Day International, the right-handed hitter also hit a half-century against New Zealand.

"My 171-run innings against Australia in the 2017 World Cup set a precedent for the type of cricket I am capable of. People often talk about knock, and I think that's why my scores of 40-50 don't get noticed as much as they should. Numbers don't important to me; I should be there when the team needs me "Harmanpreet remarked.

Harmanpreet remarked when asked about the relevance of sports psychologists and how they have aided her: "We have a sports psychologist, which has been quite beneficial. She spoke to me when I wasn't performing well in the ODI series against New Zealand, and our conversations were quite beneficial. There's a lot of pressure, but after talking to her, I got some clear insights that helped me a lot in the last two or three games. I see her constantly conversing with other players, which must be quite beneficial to everyone.

The batter commented on her advantageous batting position: "As you can see, debates continue to take place. I feel more relaxed as No. 4, but you must play according to the needs of the squad. I'll continue to play at No. 5 rather than No. 4 for the time being."

"As a batting team, we're working on putting partnerships together." It's one of the reasons we've managed to score 250 points in the last five or six games. "We need to improve in the last 10 overs as a batting unit," she continued. "We're sorted in the first 40 overs, but we need to improve in the last 10 overs as a batting team."