Team India will begin its preparation for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 facing probably the strongest side in the game, Australia in a five-match home series. This series will mark the beginning of the build-up for the Women in Blue who will face hosts South Africa and West Indies in a tri-series before the World Cup. Even though conditions will be starkly different in India from what Harmanpreet Kaur and Co. will encounter in South Africa, with the form the team is in, it should make up for a great contest and facing the world champions anywhere in the world will be a great test for the Women in Blue.
After the disappointment of the Women’s World Cup early in the year, the team found some real form later in the second half. It all started with the Commonwealth Games, where the Indian team fell agonisingly short by just 9 runs in the final but did clinch the gold medal. Beating England in England in both T20I and ODI series was a great achievement and it was capped off by a sensational run in the Women’s Asia Cup as they won the tournament for a whopping 7th time.
While Australia will be without their regular skipper Meg Lanning, who is on an indefinite break from the game, wicket-keeper batter Alyssa Healy will be leading the visitors in her absence. On the other hand, the Indian team will be without a designated head coach as Ramesh Pawar has been moved to the NCA and Hrishikesh Kanitkar has been appointed the batting coach of the team, days before the series.
Two of the members of the Indian side, Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh are also part of the U-19 team and are likely to miss the final T20I of the series as they will have to leave for the camp of the junior side, which will be set up starting December 19.
Full schedule
1st T20I – December 9, DY Patil Stadium
2nd T20I – December 11, DY Patil Stadium
3rd T20I – December 14, CCI-Brabourne Stadium
4th T20I – December 17, CCI-Brabourne Stadium
5th T20I – December 20, CCI-Brabourne Stadium
Squads
India Women: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Renuka Singh Thakur, Meghna Singh, Anjali Sarvani, Devika Vaidya, S Meghana, Richa Ghosh (wk), Harleen Deol.
Australia Women: Alyssa Healy (c), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Grace Harris, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland
Match timings and Telecast details
All five matches will begin at 7 PM IST. The matches will have a live telecast on Star Sports Network and the whole series will be live streamed on the Disney+ Hotstar app and website.
