From Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur to all-rounder Deepti Sharma: Indian Women’s team squad round up for the T20 World Cup

Later in the day on Sunday, Team India will be locking horns with Pakistan in their maiden game of the ongoing Women’s T20 World Cup as the entire cricketing roster has been abuzz with so many events surrounding one of the most prestigious tournaments in the history of women’s cricket.

Well, the Indian women had quite a swashbuckling 2022 in terms of their cricketing exploits where they entered the Commonwealth Games final, while also notching up the Asia Cup. They also saw their finest batter Mithali Raj step down from the international circuit followed by the departure of their ace quick Jhulan Goswami who ruled the arcade for almost two decades.

Keeping the bygones aside, we will now try and decode the strengths and weaknesses of the Indian women’s team that will be participating in the upcoming T20 World Cup, starting their campaign from tomorrow, heralding a new era for the present stars.

Strengths: 

One of the major strengths of the Indian cricket team would undoubtedly be Smriti Mandhana spearheading the batting charge. She has been in impeccable form throughout the last year and has yielded handsome figures under the pump. Not only has she been a force with the bat but her electric fielding has also allowed India to save a handful of runs that eventually carved open a significant difference in the outcomes of games.

Another crucial figure that will be doing the rounds for India in terms of their batting is the captain, Harmanpreet Kaur. Not only has she established herself as a reckoning force but her leadership has been the talk of the town and as India hopes to prove their mettle in the distant Proteas shores, they will need someone to lead the battery without any fear.

Renuka Singh has been India’s new pace bowling sensation and has been doing a phenomenal job of plugging the void. She has produced some significant breakthroughs and somehow her knack of hitting the jackpot under the pump has been absolutely wondrous. She can conjure speeds up to 130 clicks and is also known for her picture-perfect line and length that usually gets her the desired results.

Positions to have a deeper look at:

India’s middle-order has been a challenge that they are still trying to fix. Despite some serious firepower late in the echelons, the middle-order’s vulnerability has been something that India will need to work on extensively. Harmanpreet Kaur is undoubtedly a leading force in the center but if India is to find a way out of collapses under the pump, they will need a helping hand for their skipper when they come out of their husks in the tournament.

X-factors:

There are two x-factors who can impinge the game significantly for the Women in Blue. One of them is the hard-hitting Richa Ghosh whose late pyrotechnics have helped India to contribute some decent numbers in the tail-end of the innings while the other is Deepti Sharma. Deepti’s ingenious brand of cricket has been quite a troubling factor for her oppositions and she continues to bring forth her straight-faced game that would leave her counterparts fazed.

We at the Royal Challengers Bangalore wish the Indian women all the very best for the upcoming challenge of the T20 Women’s World Cup.