Women's T20 World Cup 2023
Women’s 20-20 World Cup 2023- India’s predicted playing XI against Pakistan
Smriti Mandhana is likely to miss the first match of the Women’s 20-20 World Cup 2023 against Pakistan.
India will take on their arch-rivals Pakistan in their first match of the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 on February 12. They would look to begin their campaign in the tournament with a win. The Women in Blue are aiming to win their maiden World Cup title
The 2020 finalists are ranked at no.4 in the T20I rankings while Pakistan is at the No.7 spot. But given the traditional rivalry, India won’t take their opposition lightly and it’s expected to be a high-voltage contest. Here we will look at India’s predicted playing XI for their opening match.
Top Order
Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues (Source – Twitter)
India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana is most likely to miss the match due to injury. Yastika Bhataia will look to redeem herself in the absence of Mandhana. The Under-19 Women’s team skipper Shafali Verma will be high on confidence after winning the inaugural Under-19 Women’s World Cup recently. However, the power hitter is out of color in the past few innings. Jemimah Rodrigues might come to bat at no.3 as she played a brilliant knock in the warm-up match against Bangladesh.
Middle Order
Harleen Deol (Source – Twitter)
The right-hander batter, Harleen Deol can play some crucial knocks in the middle order despite failing in the warm-up match. Wicketkeeper, Richa Ghosh will eye a big knock in the first match as she is known for her powerful hitting. She has scored 427 runs in the 30 T20I matches.
Allrounders
Deepti Sharma and Harlmanpreet Kaur (Source – Twitter)
Indian skipper and allrounder Harmanpreet Kaur will look to show some fireworks with her bat against the Green brigade. Young allrounder, Pooja Vastrakar displayed a good bowling performance in the warm-up match against Australia. She will look to continue the discipline in the upcoming game. Deepti Sharma can use her experience and provide some early breakthroughs as she might bowl in the powerplay.
Bowlers
Renuka Singh (Source – Twitter)
India’s pace batteries Renuka Singh and Shikha Pandey will look to have a good outing with the ball in the opening match. The former has picked up 24 wickets in 27 T20I matches while Pandey has 40 wickets in 59 games. Left-arm spinner Radha Yadav picked two wickets while conceding only 22 runs in 3 overs against Australia in the warm-up match while against Bangladesh, she registered the figures of 17/1 in 3 overs.
