India-W eye winning start to T20 World Cup as a stern Kiwi challenge awaits

As the world gears up for the mega ICC Women’s T20 World Cup starting from today with a clash between Bangladesh and Scotland, the Indian women will be all set to embark upon their journey as well on October 4th. India will be playing their curtain-raiser against New Zealand, at the Dubai International Stadium.

Both the teams have had their fair shares of highs and lows in recent times. The Women in Blue will be coming to this game on the back of two back-to-back wins against West Indies and South Africa in the warm-up games. Apart from that, they also had a fine run in the Asia Cup even though they lost in the final against Sri Lanka. Their home triumph against South Africa and Bangladesh in this year will also be propelling their cause in the build-up to the tournament.

New Zealand, on the contrary, lost against England in their last warm-up game but won against South Africa in the preceding encounter. However, their major area of concern will always be the form coming into this battle where they lost eight T20Is on the trot. They were vanquished by Australia 3-0 apart from  losing to England 5-0.

It is going to be an important fixture in terms of the momentum that both the teams will be looking forward to. When it comes to a global tournament, it goes without saying that the opener is always an important step forward as the dawn shows the day. Also, the Indian team will be hopeful of carrying forth their recent momentum that labels them as one of the favourites of the tournament too.

Venue Watch:

Dubai International Stadium has a surface that can be troublesome for the batters early on. With the dew factor out of the equation, the carry has never been a problem. But the ball tends to have a significant lateral movement and even the slightest whiff of slacking can be a challenge for the batters. However, watchful batting can lead a team to a score beyond 155 or 160 as well.

Head to Head:

Matches played: 13

India: 4

New Zealand: 9

Match Details:

Match – India vs New Zealand, Match 4, ICC Women’s T20 World Cup

Venue: Dubai International Stadium, Dubai

Date: 4th October, 2024

Time: 7:30 PM IST

Squads:

India: 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.

New Zealand: Sophie Devine (C), Suzie Bates, Eden Carson, Izzy Gaze, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Fran Jonas, Leigh Kasperek, Amelia Kerr, Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Molly Penfold, Georgia Plimmer, Hannah Rowe, Lea Tahuhu