Indian team departs for UAE ahead of ICC Women’s T20 World Cup

MUMBAI: The Indian women’s cricket team departed for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup starts from October 3 onwards.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Women’s Cricket official X handle posted pictures of players leaving for UAE, which included skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, star batters Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Varma and Jemimah Rodrigues, and pacers Renuka Thakur and Pooja Vastrakar.

“Ready Steady Raring To Go #TeamIndia | #T20WorldCup”, read the caption of a post from BCCI Women.

Ahead of their departure, at a press conference in Mumbai, skipper Harmanpreet expressed optimism about the team’s chances of overcoming the challenge posed by Australia in the upcoming Women’s T20 World Cup in Abu Dhabi.

India reached their first-ever T20 World Cup final in 2020 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a night filled with hope of securing the elusive title. However, Harmanpreet’s side folded for 99 while chasing 185 against Australia. This time, Harmanpreet is confident that India can surpass Australia by taking their “best team into the World Cup”.

“Look, their team is good, no doubt about that. They also know that India is one of the teams that can challenge them. I think that is a really positive sign. We know that whenever we play against them, we can beat them any day, any time. Winning the title after so many years is a great opportunity for us. They know we are a strong team. We just want to play good cricket and stay focused on what will help us beat them”, Harmanpreet said in a press conference.

“If I talk about this team, we have a few players who have been playing for a long time and know their roles really well. I’m quite confident with this team, and I can say that, yes, it’s the best team going into the World Cup,” she added.

In the last edition of the T20 World Cup in 2022, India again came close to making history, storming into the semi-finals. However, Australia proved to be a stumbling block once again in the final four.

In the lead-up to the T20 World Cup, India has had mixed results. They lost the T20I series against Australia and England earlier this year, but Harmanpreet’s side bounced back with two consecutive series wins against Bangladesh.

In July, India’s T20I series against South Africa ended in a draw. In the Asia Cup 2024, India lost the final to Sri Lanka, who remained unbeaten throughout the tournament.

India will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against New Zealand on October 4 at Dubai International Stadium. Before the tournament, India will play warm-up matches against the West Indies and South Africa.

In the T20 World Cup last year, Australia defeated South Africa at home by 19 runs to win their sixth title. Meanwhile, India made it to the semifinals, losing to the Aussies by five runs.

Squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, 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. (ANI)