India women will take on New Zealand Women in the first match of the ICC Women’s World T20 2018, which is scheduled to be held at the Providence Stadium in Guayana on 9th November 2018. The tournament will start from 9th to 24th November in West Indies.
In the last five World Cup, the India Women team has not reached the finals single time. In the year 2009 and 2010, the Indian team reached the semi-finals. Harmanpreet Kaur, will lead the team India this time in the World T20 and six players of the team India are taking part in the World Cup for the first time. This is the first time that the women’s T20 World Cup is being organized separately from the men’s T20 World Cup.
Talking about the India’s women team, the responsibility of opening is on Smriti Mandana and Mithali Raj, the pair is in good form these days. The responsibility of middle-order will be on skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Tania Bhatia. Spinner Poonam Yadav will lead the spin attack. Right now, the fast bowling attack of the team is less experienced. After the retirement of Jhulan Goswami, it will be a great opportunity for fast bowlers to show their worth.
India have failed to go past the group stage in the earlier three editions and they will have to perform extremely well to advance to the knock-out stage. After the opening match against New Zealand, India will face Pakistan on November 11, Ireland on November 15 and three-time champions Australia on November 17.
India Women Group Match Schedule
| Date | Group | Match | Venue |
| 09-Nov-18 | B | NZ-W vs IND-W | Guyana |
| 11-Nov-18 | B | IND-W vs PAK-W | Guyana |
| 15-Nov-18 | B | IND-W vs IRE-W | Guyana |
| 17-Nov-18 | B | IND-W vs AUS-W | Guyana |
Groups
| Group A | Group B |
| SA-W | IND-W |
| BAN-W | IRE-W |
| WI-W | AUS-W |
| ENG-W | NZ-W |
| SL-W | PAK-W |
Coach Powar, a former India off-spinner, expecting a lot from his team.
“They know that if we grow as individuals, the team grows, the Indian women’s cricket grows, and people will start noticing the game in India and around the world,” Powar told the ICC’s official website.
“When you enter such tournaments, you have to break records, get noticed as an individual and team also, so I’m looking forward to that,” he added.
Teams
India Women squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Taniya Bhatia (wk), Ekta Bisht, Dayalan Hemalatha, Mansi Joshi, Veda Krishnamurthy, Smriti Mandhana, Anuja Patil, Mithali Raj, Arundathi Reddy, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Poonam Yadav.
New Zealand Women squad: Amy Satterthwaite (c), Suzie Bates, Bernadine Bezuidenhout (wk), Sophie Devine, Kate Ebrahim, Maddy Green, Holly Huddleston, Hayley Jensen, Leigh Kasperek, Amelia Kerr, Katey Martin, Anna Peterson, Harriet Rowe, Lea Tahuhu, Jess Watkin
