SWOT Analysis of Indian Squad selected for ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023

The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 is set to get underway on February 10th and will go on till 26th February 2023. It will be hosted by South Africa and will have 23 matches in total with the finals at the Newlands Cricket in Cape Town, South Africa.

The World Cup will feature 10 teams spread across two groups.         

How is India placed in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023?

Along with England, Ireland, Pakistan, and the West Indies, India is assigned to Group B. On February 12, they face off against their neighbors Pakistan in Cape Town to start their World Cup campaign. Each group’s top two teams advance to the semi-finals.

India’s Group Fixtures in Women’s T20 World Cup 2023

How did India fare in the last T20 World Cup 2020?

India reached the final of the most recent T20 World Cup in 2020 but lost to Australia in the decisive match. When they travel to South Africa, Harmanpreet Kaur and the team won’t just try to repeat their performances from 2020; they also want to take it a step further.

India’s Squad for Women’s T20 World Cup 2023

Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Richa Ghosh, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya, Radha Yadav, Renuka Thakur, Anjali Sarvani, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shikha Pandey

Reserves: Sabbhineni Meghana, Sneh Rana, Meghna Singh.

Harmanpreet Kaur will serve as the team’s captain, with Smriti Mandhana serving as vice-captain. The major takeaway is how Shikha Pandey, a fast bowling all-rounder has been recalled to the World Cup squad after being sidelined for more than a year. Pooja Vastrakar has been included and her featuring in the games, is subject to her fitness. Anjali Sarvani has also been included in the team. Sabbhineni Meghana, Sneh Rana, and Meghna Singh are the team’s three reserves.

BREAKING NEWS:

🇮🇳India’s squad for ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 announced.

Shikha Pandey is back in the Squad. Meghna Singh, Sneh Rana, S Meghna are included in the reserves. #CricketTwitter #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/dv6586RjLs

— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) December 28, 2022

SWOT Analysis

Strengths of Team India selected for Women’s T20 World Cup 2023

• Good batting lineup: India’s batting looks solid with Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma at the top. With Jemimah Rodrigues (if given a continued run) or Harleen Deol coming in at #3 and with Harmanpreet Kaur at #4, India looks strong. With Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh coming in later in the batting order if everything goes according to plan we can expect big totals.

• Experience that Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh will bring in: With Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh first playing for India U19 in the five-match T20I series versus South Africa and later in the ICC Women’s U19 World Cup in South Africa, expectations will be for them to get acclimatized to the conditions that will come in handy when they play for Team India in the senior level as well.

• Form of Devika Vaidya and Harleen Deol: One of the major positives from the Australian series was how useful Devika Vaidya and Harleen Deol are to the Indian set-up. They are flexible in the batting order and can be used as floaters and chip in with quick runs and pick wickets being used as the extra bowling option.

• Inclusion of Shikha Pandey: Shikha Pandey is an experienced player in the Indian colours and has delivered whenever the team needed her to and in ICC events, she has always been crucial to India’s prospects. Her inclusion in the side is a welcome addition as she can be the guiding force to Anjali Sarvani and Renuka Singh Thakur and she lends excellent balance to the team with her all-round prowess.

JUST IN:

Shikha Pandey gets a call-up in India’s Squad for the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023.

She is also part of the squad that plays a tri-series tournament against South Africa and West Indies starting 19th January 2023. #CricketTwitter #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/z5laPJwuxG

— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) December 28, 2022

Weaknesses of Team India selected for Women’s T20 World Cup 2023

• Overdependence on Renuka Singh Thakur: Nominated for the ICC’s Women’s Emerging Player of the Year Award, Renuka Singh has been very important to India’s success in the past year. Her good opening spells really sets up the game but at the same time if the other bowlers do not support her, it will further complicate matters for India as picking wickets at regular intervals has to be the aim to restrict the flow of runs and limit the opposition.

• Death bowling: An unsettling tendency and observation in the series versus Australia was India’s end-overs performance with the ball. In the final eight games, the home side’s assault averaged 12.26 runs per over, which was lower than Australia’s 9.37 as the visitors scored 170 or more in every game while the home team made 150 or more in every game bar the final one. If India is defending a total or even bowling first for that matter, they will need their bowling to be at its peak and notoriously leak runs.

• Shaky middle order: With the unpredictability of the form of the openers, the pressure for the middle order to deliver is maximum. Jemimah Rodrigues had a tough outing in the Australia series and she will be looking to get back in form and contribute. Harmanpreet Kaur will also have to look to accelerate and not just play the anchor innings as it puts pressure on the lower middle order to come and get runs immediately.

• Poor fielding: Another concern for Team India has to be poor fielding. This often is the leading cause for India not being able to get wickets or leaking runs which is not an ideal case scenario in limited-overs games where each run is precious.

• Not having a bowling coach: Earlier with Ramesh Powar as the Head Coach, he also guided the girls with bowling strategies and techniques being a bowler himself. But after he no longer is the coach, Hrishikesh Kanitkar has assumed the batting coach role while looking after the team overall as well but a proper bowling coach is certainly the need of the hour.

BIG NEWS:

BCCI has appointed Hrishikesh Kanitkar as a women’s team batting coach.

Head coach Ramesh Powar to join NCA as a part of the restructuring process and won’t be part of the women’s team. #CricketTwitter

— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) December 6, 2022

Opportunities of Team India selected for Women’s T20 World Cup 2023

• To go all the way and win an ICC event: India would definitely want to avoid a case os so close, yet so far. India has never won an ICC event and this T20 World Cup can definitely be the stepping stone for India to achieve glory.

Threats of Team India selected for Women’s T20 World Cup 2023

• Tendency to bottle in ICC events: We have observed the same in the 2017 Women’s ODI World Cup coming to the finals and losing to England. Next, in the 2018 T20 World Cup losing the semi-finals to England then, in the 2020 T20 World Cup where India lost to Australia in the finals and in the Commonwealth Games silver medal match being the latest where India lost to Australia.

• Injury concerns: India will be hoping to avoid any injuries and always play their best possible combination and not compromise. Injury to the first choice playing 11 players could mean the replacements coming in will take time to get used to the conditions which can be detrimental to India’s prospects.

What can India’s ideal and strongest possible playing 11 look like?

Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur, Harleen Deol, Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, Anjali Sarvani, Renuka Singh Thakur, Rajeshwari Gayakwad