It’s time for Indian women’s third encounter in the ongoing World Cup where they are set to take on England at St. George’s Park, Gqeberha on Saturday. After beating West Indies in their second World Cup match, Harmanpreet Kaur & Co. is riding high on success at the moment. The Caribbean side is often known as the powerhouse in world cricket and beating them convincingly would have given them a lot of confidence going forward.
West Indies, after opting to bat first, could only score 118 in their 20 overs. This was not a typical Windies-style batting as they were striking at a very low rate. Only Stafanie Taylor scored a 40-ball 42 to help her team reach this score. In the bowling department, Deepti Sharma was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets for just 15 runs in her 4 overs.
On the batting front, the Indian women started elegantly with some good strokes from Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana but it was Richa Ghosh who took the charge and finished it for the country. England, on the other hand, also won their first two battles against the West Indies and Ireland. Now, it’s time for both of them to lock horns in the crucial group match.
What have they done so far?
The Women in Blue have been sensational so far in the tournament, with two consecutive victories as they defeated the arch-rivals by 7 wickets in their tournament opener. Pakistan set a fighting total of 150 for India to chase which was not easy on the big stage but Harmanpreet led side confidently chased it down in 19 overs.
Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh scored 53 runs and 31 not out respectively to give their team a memorable win over Pakistan. Rodrigues and Ghosh started building the partnership when the required rate was around 10 and they finished the run-chase with an over to spare as the former was awarded the player of the match trophy for her remarkable show.
The next battle against West Indies was another easy game for India as they won it by 6 wickets. The upcoming game against England won’t be similar for India because they are coming off two great victories. The Heather Knight-led England defeated West Indies in their first game by 7 wickets whereas the team outclassed Ireland in their second match by 4 wickets.
Head to Head Record
Out of 26 matches to date, England has won 19 T20I matches whereas Indian women could only win 7 encounters. Clearly, England has been dominant in this format but looking at the current squad and performance, both sides are equally balanced.
Both of them are coming with a couple of victories. Undoubtedly, it will be a good chance for India to improve their record against England.
Key Players
Smriti Mandhana playing a sweep in one of the T20I matches from the past
Smriti Mandhana: The biggest buy of the WPL Auction, Smriti Mandhana, missed the first World Cup encounter against Pakistan due to injury but came back in the second match against West Indies. She could just score 10 before getting back to the dugout. Now, in this high-voltage encounter, Mandhana needs to score runs at the top to provide momentum to the team.
Still, a couple of group matches left for India and Mandhana has a good chance to come back in form. She is a big match player and scoring runs against England would improve her confidence for the last game against Ireland and further matches if India reaches the knockout stage.
Alice Capsey: Her innings against Ireland was a sign of sheer brilliance when Capsey scored a 22-ball 51, which is her highest-ever T20I score to date This sensational stuff helped her side win the match in 14.2 overs only. Indians must be having some plan for her in the crucial encounter else she could be dangerous and take the game away at any moment.
The 18-year-old would like to continue the same performance and destroy the Indian bowling attack. Getting her wicket early would be a big challenge for Harmanpreet & Co. but they have all the ability to do so.
Predicted XIs
India: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur ©, Richa Ghosh, Devika Vaidya, Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Renuka Thakur Singh
England: Danielle Wyatt, Sophia Dunkley, Alice Capsey, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Heather Knight ©, Amy Jones, Sophie Ecclestone, Charlotte Dean, Katherine Sciver Brunt, Sarah Glenn, Lauren Bell
Prediction
England has a terrific T20I record against India with 19 victories but these wins won’t impact India’s confidence in this battle. India is a much better team than this head-to-head record and is coming with two superb victories. This is going to be a cracker of a game with Harmanpreet Kaur & Co. slightly ahead against England.
With the kind of intent they have shown in both games, expectations from Indian batters are more now in this match. If they could repeat a similar performance against England, then they will surely win the game.