India's Women's T20 World Cup 2024 Squad: Key Considerations and Notable Inclusions

Aug. 28, 2024, 4:01 p.m.

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India unveiled their squad for the ninth edition of the Women’s T20 World Cup on Tuesday, a little over a month before the tournament gets underway in the United Arab Emirates.

The Women in Blue will be desperate to end their long wait for a global title, all the more so after suffering a shock defeat at the hands of Chamari Athapaththu’s Sri Lanka in the final of the Asia Cup last month.

Captain Harmanpreet Kaur and head coach Amol Muzumdar will be hoping that the eight-wicket loss to the spirited Lankan team in the final in Dambulla serves as a wake-up call, and that Team India will perform significantly better in the T20 World Cup.

India had made rapid strides during Anjum Chopra and Mithali Raj’s reigns as captains, finishing runners-up twice in the ODI World Cup, and have been just as competitive under Harmanpreet’s leadership, finishing runners-up in the 2020 T20 World Cup and reaching the semi-finals of the 2023 edition.

This year’s T20 World Cup was originally supposed to take place in Bangladesh, but was shifted to the UAE by the ICC due to ongoing tension in the south Asian nation due to the students’ protest that eventually led to the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government.

Before the tournament gets underway, we take a look at some of the key takeaways from India’s squad:

India retain a large chunk of Asia Cup squad

The biggest takeaway from the squad announcement for the T20 World Cup was the fact that the BCCI decided to retain a large chunk of the players who had travelled to Sri Lanka for the Asia Cup. That’s 14 from the 15-player squad set to board the flight to UAE, to be more specific.

Harmanpreet Kaur on T20 World Cup | ‘Want to give India another reason to celebrate this year’

The Asia Cup holds immense significance for India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, not only as a battle for continental supremacy, but also as a crucial stepping stone for global events. In recent times, these teams have used the Asia Cup to fine-tune their strategies and assess their strengths ahead of the ODI or T20 World Cup.

Advertisement The Indians had a fine run in the Asia Cup, where Shafali Verma and vice-captain finished second and third on the run-scorers’ list while three Indians had finished among the top five in the bowling chart, including spin-bowling all-rounder Deepti Sharma at the top.

These strong performances provided the selection committee with ample justification to maintain a sense of consistency in the squad, minimizing drastic changes after the continental event.

Bhatia returns as a reserve keeper-batter

The only player from the Asia Cup squad who did not make the final cut for the T20 World Cup is wicketkeeper-batter Uma Chetry.

Chhetry had played in the semi-final against Bangladesh and the final against Sri Lanka, scoring 9 runs in the latter. She has been designated as a traveling reserve, along with Tanuja Kanwar and Saima Thakor, subject to fitness evaluations.

Advertisement Yastika Bhatia’s return gives the Indian team a solid top-order option and an ideal back-up to first-choice wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh. Image: X / @BCCI Bhatia, who had last featured in the T20I series in the tour of Bangladesh, has been recuperating from a knee injury at the National Cricket Academy. Her return boosts the Indian top-order given she’s a back-up opener, and also gives the Women in Blue an able back-up to first-choice keeper Richa Ghosh.

Bhatia had a good run with the bat in the Women’s Premier League earlier this year, where the 23-year-old finished Mumbai Indians’ third-highest run-scorer with 204 runs in eight outings.

While Bhatia typically bats as an opener, her versatility could prove beneficial at the No. 3 position, with Verma and Mandhana opening and captain Harmanpreet batting at No. 4.

Advertisement Patil back in the spin department

Off-spinner Shreyanka Patil is also making a comeback from injury, although unlike Bhatia, she was originally selected for the Asia Cup squad.

Patil had suffered a finger injury on her left hand during India’s tournament opener against arch-rivals Pakistan, though she still managed to sign off with superb figures of 2/14 in just under four overs, and was replaced by Tanuja Kanwar for the remainder of the tournament.

Left-arm spinner Kanwar, though, hasn’t been ignored entirely and like Chetry, has been retained among the travelling reserves.

India A’s multi-format tour of Australia doesn’t go unnoticed

Looking at India’s extended squad for the Women’s T20 World Cup tells us that the selectors have been keeping an eye on India A’s multi-format tour of Australia, in which the visitors played three T20Is and as many ODIs followed by a one-off unofficial Test.

Both Chhetry and Kanwar participated in the tour across all formats. Chhetry scored 47 in the red-ball match in Gold Coast, bringing India close to the 289-run target set by the home team.

The selectors have also decided to pick Raghvi Bisht and Priya Mishra as travelling reserves. While Bisht had scored a half-century in each of the three one-dayers, Mishra starred in India’s 171-run win in the third one-dayer, their only win of the tour, with a haul of 5/14. That was followed by a four-fer in the unofficial Test.