Yastika Bhatia makes a comeback as India announces a familiar 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup

India has announced a largely unchanged squad for the women’s T20 World Cup 2024, keeping most of the players who made it to the final of the women’s T20 Asia Cup in July.

Fourteen of the 15 players from the Asia Cup squad are included in the World Cup lineup, with Uma Chetry being the only one left out. Yastika Bhatia has been selected in her place, although her participation, along with Shreyanka Patil’s, is contingent on their fitness. During a recent Asia Cup match against Pakistan, Shreyanka suffered a finger fracture in her left hand.

Bhatia, the wicketkeeper-batter, was the Mumbai Indians’ third-highest run-scorer in the WPL 2024, accumulating 204 runs in eight matches. She featured in the first T20I against Bangladesh in Sylhet in April but has been sidelined since then. Currently, she is recovering from a left knee injury at the BCCI’s National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.

Tanuja Kanwar, who stepped in for Patil during the Asia Cup, has not been included in the main squad but is listed among the traveling reserves. Alongside Kanwar, wicketkeeper-batter Chetry and fast bowler Saima Thakor are also named in the reserves. Batter Raghvi Bist and legspinner Priya Mishra, who were part of the India A squad that recently toured Australia, have been named as non-traveling reserves.

As captain, Harmanpreet Kaur will remain in charge, while Smriti Mandhana will serve as vice-captain. Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma, and these two are anticipated to constitute the backbone of the batting order. Renuka Singh and Pooja Vastrakar will be in charge of the fast-bowling team. The primary spinners are Patil, Radha Yadav, and Deepti.

India is grouped with Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka in Group A of the World Cup, where they are striving to win their first Women’s T20 World Cup title.

The event was originally scheduled to take place in Bangladesh, but it was moved to the United Arab Emirates last week due to nationwide anti-government protests in Bangladesh, which prompted several nations to advise their citizens not to travel there.

The tournament will begin on October 3 in Sharjah and end on October 20 in Dubai with the final. India will start their campaign against New Zealand in Dubai on October 4 in an evening match, followed by a highly anticipated clash against Pakistan on October 6 at the same venue.

India squad for the Women’s T20 World Cup

Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana (vice-capt), Yastika Bhatia* (wk), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, D Hemalatha, Asha Sobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil*, Sajeevan Sajana