Team India has received a reality check ahead of the start of its campaign in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024. Warm-up matches are being played in the UAE ahead of the T20 World Cup starting on October 3, with Team India playing their first match against the West Indies on Sunday. In this match, Indian team captained by Harmanpreet Kaur defeated West Indies by 20 runs. Despite the win, there was tension for Team India as India’s veteran batsmen failed miserably on the spinning pitch of Dubai. A strong performance by the bowlers gave Team India this victory.
Team India played their first practice match on the evening of Sunday 29 September at the ICC Academy Ground. In this match, Team India faced the 2016 champions. India had to bat first and it was expected that all the great batsmen including Smriti Mandhana, Shefali Verma would show their talent but it did not happen and the first 3 batsmen returned to the pavilion in 5.2 overs. Shefali (7) was dismissed by medium pacer Shinel Henry, while Smriti (14) and skipper Harmanpreet (1) were caught off spin by Windies captain Hayley Mathews, who took a total of 4 wickets.
As in many previous matches, the Indian innings was once again handled by Jemimah Rodriguez, who was well supported by Yastika Bhatia. There was a partnership of exactly 50 runs between the two for the fourth wicket. Jemima played a brilliant innings and completed her half century in 40 balls. However, she was run out for 52 in the 18th over and missed out by a big score. This also affected Team India who could not cross the mark of 150 and could only score 141 runs for the loss of 8 wickets. Deepti Sharma scored an unbeaten 13 off 8 balls, while Richa Ghosh was dismissed for just 7 runs.
Obviously, after the failure of the batsmen, all the onus was on the bowlers and they did not disappoint. Especially the medium pace pair of Renuka Singh and Pooja Vastrakar gave the team a great start. Vastrakar took 2 and Renuka dismissed Hayley Mathews for 3 wickets till the fourth over. Like India, this was followed by a good partnership for the West Indies, with Shinal being the star. Spinner Asha Shobhana broke the partnership, followed by Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav and Pooja. Shinel scored an unbeaten 59 off 48 balls but the West Indies team could only score 121 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in 20 overs.
