WWT20 TEAM GUIDES: India, the rising force

After losing the 50-over World Cup final to England last year, India will want to go one further and turn heartbreak into happiness at the World T20

The Indian team has been transformed in recent years and has fully launched itself into the modern women’s game.

After losing the 50-over World Cup final to England last year, India will want to go one further and turn heartbreak into happiness at the World T20.

They certainly have a point to prove and their experienced players should draw on their run to the final last year to help them put together a series of strong performances in the competition.

Form

India’s recent form has been impressive, and they registered a 4-0 win over Sri Lanka in a recent five-match T20 series, with one game lost to rain.

However, they did surprisingly lose to Bangladesh in the final of the T20 Asia Cup in June. In a low-scoring game, India posted just 112 for nine in their innings and Bangladesh were able to chase it down from the final ball of the game.

Although it was a close match, India were the expected winners of the tournament and must be more clinical in the T20 World Cup. Going into the competition, they are ranked No.5 in the ICC Women’s T20I rankings.

^{Smriti Manhana in KSL action}

Star players

The recent Kia Super League was not just significant for its exciting matches and enhanced Sky coverage but also for the tournament debuts of two of the world’s greatest cricketers, Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana, and both will be players to watch in the Caribbean.

Their appearances in the KSL brought a lot of coverage and expectation and they certainly did not disappoint!

Mandhana was named player of the tournament having scored 48, 37, 52 not out, 43 not out, 102 and 56 in her first six innings, making her the highest runscorer in the tournament.

Both players bat with flare and have consistently produced match-winning performances.

Kaur became the first Indian cricketer – male or female – to pen a Big Bash League contract, when she signed on with Sydney Thunder in Australia. This was the result of her impressive performances during India’s tour of Australia in 2016 where she played a key role in India’s highest ever T20 run chase.

In her last three T20 matches for India she has scored 63, 45 and 57 which shows she is in great form heading into the T20 World Cup.

Strengths

A lot of India’s strengths lie in the aggressive nature of their batting. The firepower that they have at the top of the order, coming particularly from Mandhana, Kaur and Mithali Raj, eases the pressure on players coming in lower down the order.

In addition to India’s batting prowess, spin trio Deepti Sharma, Poonam Yadav and Ekta Bisht work effectively together to keep the run rate low and consistently take wickets. The bowlers show great variety and are sure to be effective on Caribbean wickets.

WORLD T20 HUB

Weaknesses

A key weakness identified after last year’s World Cup was the lack of consistency from India’s batters. While all of India’s top-order batters are capable of scoring centuries, they sometimes lack the consistency of putting on a score every game, which will be crucial for success in a competition such as the T20 World Cup.

Another weakness has been their fielding. During the World Cup last year 11 catches were dropped and eight run out chances were not converted.

If India want to perform at their best and win this year’s competition, their fielding will have to be at the top of their game.

Chances of winning

After making it to the final of last year’s World Cup, it is likely that India will be motivated to make it one better and win the competition.

Their style of play suits the T20 format very well but they will have to perform to a high standard in all areas to compete against the likes of Australia and New Zealand in their group.

^{Harmanpreet Kaur}

Prediction: Semi-finalists 

Bet you didn’t know

The India women’s cricket team is nicknamed the Women in Blue.

Fixture list (all UK time): New Zealand Women (Nov 9, 3pm), Pakistan (Nov 11, 3pm), Ireland Women (Nov 15, 3pm), Australia (Nov 17, 3pm)

WOMEN'S WORLD T20 SQUADS