India Women's T20WC squad: Consistent selection with foreseeable threats

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on August 27 (Tuesday), announced India’s squad for the Women’s T20 World Cup in October. The selectors have maintained consistency in the selection, picking 14 of the 15 players who were part of the Asia Cup squad, including Shreyanka Patil whose participation in the tournament is subject to fitness. 

Uma Chetry and Tanuja Kanwar are dropped and placed in the travelling reserves alongside an additional pace bowling option in Saima Thakor. There are also two non-traveling reserves in Priya Mishra and Raghvi Bist who did well in India A’s tour of Australia. 

Kiran Navgire can feel a bit hard done, having done well on that tour, alongside having the highest strike rate for her Women’s Premier League (WPL) team, UP Warriorz (146.7) in the 2024 season. 

Courtesy of numerous spin-bowling all-rounders, India Women seem to be well-balanced for any combination they put in the park. However, despite plenty of tried-and-tested players, a few factors can break India’s dream of winning the trophy after knockout finishes in each of the last three editions. 

Yastika’s return highlights the number 3 conundrum

In probably the only surprise move, Yastika Bhatia has returned to the squad while carrying the injury she sustained during India’s tour of Bangladesh in April.

Yastika hasn't played any cricket since then and is part of the main squad subject to fitness. India hosted South Africa and played the Asia Cup in her absence alongside completing that tour of Bangladesh. They played four other batters to fill that number three slot, also giving an extended run to Dayalan Hemalatha, but no batter could seal their spot. 

Yastika’s recall hints that India are uncertain about their number three, which could cost them an important fixture. The left-handed had a decent Women’s Premier League (WPL) season before getting injured, averaging 25.5 (four runs more than the previous season) and striking at 121. However, most of her runs (66.7%) came against pace.

In fact, against spin, Yastika has never maintained a strike rate of 100 in a calendar year in the WT20s. Given the World Cup is in Dubai, the left-hander’s inability to dominate spin can restrict India, let alone the question marks on her batting form.

Even if Jemimah Rodrigues is placed at three to fill that void, there will be a vacancy at number six with two options in Hemalatha and Sajeevan Sajana, both of whom haven’t set the stage on fire at the highest level. In either case, India have one batting position to worry about.

Renuka’s form

Renuka Singh is the only new ball pacer in India’s squad. The other two, Arundhati Reddy and Pooja Vastrakar haven’t bowled enough with the new ball.

Renuka’s form becomes a concern here. Presuming India will feature only two pacers in their Playing XI, Renuka’s form doesn’t instil enough confidence. 

In all WT20s in 2024, she averages 43.3 runs per wicket at an economy of 7.2 in the powerplay. She had a poor WPL, picking only wicket in her 22 powerplay overs, conceding at 8.2 runs per over. The numbers have improved since that WPL season with seven wickets in 23 powerplay overs (average 20.9, economy 6.3) in nine WT20Is but not up to the mark if one is the sole player for the role. 

Given the new ball can swing under the lights in Dubai, Renuka’s form will become critical for India to build pressure for the spinners to cash on. 

Fielding woes

The numbers tell the story here. India have forgettable fielding numbers since the previous T20 World Cup in 2023. They are placed second from the bottom in catching efficiency and hold the same spot in terms of net runs saved. 

In their last T20 fixture, the Asia Cup final, India dropped Harshitha Madavi who went on to score an unbeaten 69 off 51 balls. The head coach, Amol Muzumdar, spoke about working on the fielding standards earlier this year. "Fielding is a work in progress, and we are working very hard towards it, and trust me, you will see some results out of it,” he said. 

This World Cup, the first global tournament under Muzumdar’s stint, will be the true assessment point of the hard work put in this department. 

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