India’s squad for the Women’s T20 World Cup was announced by the BCCI on Tuesday. Harmanpreet Kaur will lead an experienced side seeking their first T20 World Cup glory. Kaur will now lead her fourth T20 World Cup as captain after the 2018, 2022 and 2023 editions.
Meanwhile, a few warm-up matches have been scheduled for the Indian National Women’s Cricket Team. These warm-up matches will be of 20 overs per team and will not have international T20 status, allowing teams to field all members of their 15-player squad.
India to play warm-up matches against West Indies and South Africa
Ahead of the upcoming Women’s T20 World Cup, India will play two warm-up matches against West Indies and South Africa in Dubai on September 29 and October 1 respectively.
Nearly 10 warm-up matches will be played between September 18 and October 1, and India will participate in two of them.
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The 10 teams that have qualified for the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup will take part in the practice matches, with each team playing two warm-up matches. In the first two matches, Pakistan will take on Scotland, while Sri Lanka will face Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, India is in Group A alongside Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Group B comprises England, South Africa, West Indies, Scotland and Bangladesh.
India have never won a T20 or a 50-over World Cup. So far, their fortunes in ICC tournaments have been poor.
They reached the final of the 2017 Women’s ODI World Cup and lost to England. In the 2018 Women’s T20 World Cup, India lost to England once again in the semi-final after remaining unbeaten in the group stage.
In the 2020 edition of the tournament, India lost to Australia in the final match. In the 2023 edition, India again lost to Australia in the first semi-final.
India have outplayed every other team in the tournament except England and Australia. In this edition, to win the tournament, they will need to find a way to overcome them.
Meanwhile, Harmanpreet Kaur is leading her fourth T20 World Cup as captain after 2018, 2020 and 2023. She has some unfinished business in her glorious career and would like to end it with at least one win in an ICC tournament.
The tournament will begin on October 3 in Sharjah and the final will take place on October 20 in Dubai.
India will begin their campaign against New Zealand in Dubai on October 4 in a night match and will play Pakistan on October 6 at the same venue.
Talking about the 2024 T20 World Cup, the tournament was originally scheduled to be played in Bangladesh.
However, the ICC moved the tournament out of the country to the United Arab Emirates following civil protests followed by social and political unrest in the country.
Bangladesh, however, remains the official host of the tournament. In addition to the 15-member squad, three travelling reserves have been added.
India’s squad for the Women’s T20 World Cup
Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Yastika Bhatia* (wk), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, D Hemalatha, Asha Sobhana , Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil*, Sajeevan Sajana.
Roving Reserves: Tanuja Kanwar, Uma Chetry, Saima Thakor.
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