Top Four India Players to watch out for in ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023

Updated: Jan 17, 2023

ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023: Top Four India Players to watch out in South Africa in World T20.

In the last five years, India Women’s cricket team has left quite a remarkable footprint in international cricket with three big appearances in global tournaments finals – they emerged as Asia Cup champions, played a final against Australia in ICC T20 World Cup 2020 & the Commonwealth Games Cricket Competition 2022 final. Besides these achievements, they played out Test draws in England and Australia, won an ODI series against England on the latter’s home turf.

India Women have surely announced their arrival at the international stage and naturally, the expectations are sky high from the team. This time in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023, Harmanpreet Kaur and Co would like to repeat the magic of Asia Cup 2022.

The selection committee on December 28 announced India’s squad for the T20 World Cup 2023.

India Women’s Squad for ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023

Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Richa Ghosh (wk), Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya, Radha Yadav, Renuka Thakur, Anjali Sarvani, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shikha Pandey

Reserves: Sabbhineni Meghana, Sneh Rana, Meghna Singh

Here’s a lowdown on the four key players in India’s squad who can change the game at any point.

Read More: India Women on the right course ahead of February’s ICC T20 World Cup 2023?

The dasher from Rohtak – Shafali Verma

Teenage batting sensation, Shafali Verma, has been one of the most explosive and dangerous players in the cricket world right now. In 2019, the 15-year-old Verma became the youngest cricketer to represent India in women’s T20 international matches. In June 2021, she became the youngest player to wear an India cap in all three formats of international cricket.

Her ability to smack the ball around the ground, her attacking batting style to dominate bowlers, and to score runs quickly during the powerplay phase make her a generational talent. On October 8, 2022, Shafali became the youngest cricketer to complete 1000 runs in T20 internationals. With a strike rate of 134.53, she has the finest strike rate around the world, which makes her the most treacherous opener in the world.

Batting

In the upcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023, Team India’s batting line-up readily depends on the opening partnership between Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma. It’s very important that both the players give their best performance. Verma cannot be only useful as a batter but she can also contribute with ball in hand. She can be used as an extra off-spinner bowler when needed. She has just started her career, and she is young and can learn many new things to enhance her game.

Bowling

Read More: Women’s T20 WC 2023: India go in with strong batting order; inexperienced bowling cause for concern

Dynamic wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh

Richa Ghosh is another teenage sensation from Siliguri in West Bengal who plays for India Women as a wicketkeeper-batter. She has just played 30 T20I and 17 ODIs, and she has established herself as a finisher.

She comes down the order at the position of number six, and her ability to hit 6s and 4s is favourable for the team as she can add extra runs at death overs with her strike rate of above 134. She adds stability to the middle order by maintaining a good run rate for the team. She has established herself as Mahendra Singh Dhoni of women’s cricket with some good performances both in front and behind the wicket.

Batting

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The Himachal Express – Renuka Singh Thakur

The 26-year-old Renuka Singh Thakur played her debut match against New Zealand Women at Queenstown on February 18, 2022. She had quite a few memorable outings in her first year of international cricket. Her ability to swing the ball and make crucial strikes at vital junctures of the game has done a lot for her to stake a long-term claim to the top seamer’s role in Indian cricket after veteran Jhulan Goswami’s retirement.

Thakur has claimed 18 wickets with an economy of 4.42 in ODIs, with an average of 14.88, and most of her wickets were against a strong England team. She has 23 wickets in T20Is with an economy of 6.48 and an average of 25.08. Her performance unsettled the strong Australia line-up in the seven T20I clashes in 2022 against them where she took eight wickets. Her phenomenal form extended to the Asia Cup and Commonwealth Games Cricket Competition 2022 as she picked up 17 wickets from 11 matches.

Her presence in the team is very crucial for the team’s performance, and the Indian side will rely on her to deliver. She is nominated for ICC Women’s Emerging Cricketer of the Year 2022. Seeing her recent performances, people can expect a lot of things from her in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2023.

Bowling

Read More: ICC Women’s World T20 2023 to be held in February in SA; Could India overcome final hurdle?

The Run Machine – Smriti Mandhana

The left-handed opener Smriti Mandhana has been an integral part of India Women’s cricket team since she made her international debut for India against Bangladesh in 2013 in the T20I and ODI format as a 16-year-old under Harmanpreet Kaur’s captaincy. The southpaw is now vice-captain of the Indian team across all formats of the game.

Smriti Mandhana is a versatile player, who can play under any situation from aggressor to passive long innings. She has scored more than 5,000 runs across formats in India and around the world. In the 20-over format, the southpaw has played 107 matches and scored 2565 runs at a decent average of 27.28 with a strike rate of 123.55, which is very good for the opening batter.

Mandhana’s opening partnership with Shafali Verma can give a good start that the team so vitally needs. Even if India loses Verma’s wicket early, they can rely on Mandhana to carry on performing as per the team’s expectations. Given her experience and current form, it’s safe to say that India’s batting line-up is in safe hands. She is the only Indian cricketer who won the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year award twice.

Batting

The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 will start in South Africa. A total of 23 matches will be held from February 10 to February 26 in the world event.

There are a total of ten teams participating in the tournament, which are divided into two groups – Group A consists of Australia, Bangladesh, South Africa, Sri Lanka and New Zealand, while Group B consists of India, England, Pakistan, West Indies and Ireland. India will play their first group match against Pakistan on February 12 at Newlands in Cape Town. From each group, the top two teams will advance to the semi-finals.

The final will be played on February 26 at Newlands in Cape Town.

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