Indian women’s team were close to clinching the T20 World Cup trophy in 2020 but were outclassed by Australia in the finals. As the ninth edition of the event is scheduled to commence on October 3, India see themselves placed in Group A along with Australia New Zealand, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. They will be playing their first T20 World Cup 2024 game against two-time champions New Zealand on October 4.
On October 13, they will take on the six-time winners, Australia. Given that the group is full of legendary cricket players, former Indian batsman Poonam Yadav has described Australia as a tough foe and forecast that both India and Australia will advance to the next round of the competition. Yadav stated that Sri Lanka, the current Asia Cup champions, will be motivated to give it their all.
“Given Australia’s formidable opponent, I believe both India and Australia from our group will move on to the next round. Over the last two years, India has shown great batting, bowling, and fielding in T20 Internationals. Although the team mix appears to be quite strong, Australia will surely provide a big test. Despite India’s past performances against them in World Cup competitions, Sri Lanka will also be keen to defeat them once more, Yadav stated.
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“We will definitely win, but the match against Pakistan will be exciting. When we played New Zealand in the same pool in 2018, we won against every team but Sri Lanka. Despite the fact that we lost in the semifinals, I think Shafali Verma’s important role, our present team composition, and the supportive atmosphere will help us win. I hope she keeps playing this role because she can rapidly put the opposition on the back foot with her ability to score 60–70 runs in the first six overs,” the woman said.
India’s squad for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024:
Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Yastika Bhatia (wk)*, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh Thakur, Dayalan Hemalatha, Asha Sobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil*, Sajana Sajeevan.
Travelling Reserves: Uma Chetry (wk), Tanuja Kanwer, Saima Thakor
Non-Travelling Reserves: Raghvi Bist, Priya Mishra