Unlike their male counterparts, Indian women's cricket star have failed so far to stamp their authority in the game. Now, a young squad will aim to emerge from the shadows of a winless past when it launches its bid for a maiden title in the first standalone Women's World T20 starting Friday.
India have never won the World T20 in their previous five attempts with their best result, a semifinal appearance, coming in 2009 and 2010. This is the first stand-alone World T20 for women after being held alongside the men's event in the past editions.
In the lead-up to the World T20, India have hit good form, beating hosts Sri Lanka before blanking Australia A at home. What should give them additional confidence going into the opener is the wins against reigning champions West Indies and England in the warm-up matches.
Opener Smriti Mandhana, on whom India will be relying heavily in the Caribbean, said the Asia Cup T20 final loss to Bangladesh in June was a timely wake-up call.
India have been placed in Group B, alongside New Zealand, Pakistan, Ireland and Australia. Top two teams from the group qualify for the semi-final.
Here's complete Schedule (November, All times in IST).
9: New Zealand vs India, Group B (Guyana), 8:30 PM
11: India vs Pakistan, Group B (Guyana), 8:30 PM
14: India vs Ireland, Group B (Guyana), 8:30 PM
17: India vs Australia, Group B (Guyana), 8:30 PM
Knock-outs
23 (2): Semi-final 1 - A1 vs B2 (Antigua), 1:30 AM; Semi-final 2 - A2 vs B1 (Antigua), 5:30 AM
25 (1): Final at Antigua, 5:30 AM
India Squad
India: Taniya Bhatia (wk), Ekta Bisht, Dayalan Hemalatha, Mansi Joshi, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Veda Krishnamurthy, Smriti Mandhana (vc), Anuja Patil, Mithali Raj, Arundhati Reddy, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav.
How to watch
Star Sports Network will cover the event, with Hotstar providing live streaming service. DD National will telecast all India matches.
