Providence (Guyana): A young Indian squad will aim to emerge from the shadows of a winless past when they launch their bid for a maiden title with a tough opener against New Zealand in the first standalone Women’s World T20 starting here, Friday.
India have not been very competitive in the shortest format compared to the 50-over game in which they scripted a path-breaking moment last year when they reached the World Cup final, before losing narrowly.
Captain Harmanpreet Kaur and recently-appointed coach Ramesh Powar insist that the team has learnt from that final loss and the presence of youngsters, including six World Cup debutants, makes the squad fearless.
India have never won the World T20 in their previous five attempts with their best result, semifinal appearances, coming in 2009 and 2010. This is the first standalone World T20 for women after being played alongside the men’s event in the past editions.
In the lead-up to the World T20, India have hit good form, beating hosts Sri Lanka before blanking Australia A at home. What should give them additional confidence going into the opener are the wins against reigning champions West Indies and England in the warm-up matches.
Opener Smriti Mandhana, on whom India will be relying heavily in the Caribbean, said the Asia Cup T20 final loss to Bangladesh in June was a timely wake-up call.
India have failed to go past the group stage in the previous three editions and they will have to play well consistently to advance to the knock-outs.
India squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Taniya Bhatia, Ekta Bisht, Dayalan Hemalatha, Mansi Joshi, Veda Krishnamurthy, Smriti Mandhana, Anuja Patil, Mithali Raj, Arundathi Reddy, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Poonam Yadav.