ICC Women's World Cup 2022: India - Preview

Five years ago, they had a heartbreak after losing to England by just nine runs in the final at Lord’s. It was also the closest that the Indian women’s team came to scripting history as no nation apart from those in the SENA club has lifted the World Cup. India have been the only non-SENA nation which has made the final twice but on both the occasions, they failed to beat the final hurdle. The loss in the 2017 final was particularly painful.

The world is nearing yet another women’s World Cup and this time, it will be held in New Zealand. The wounded lot led by Mithali Raj has also reached the host nation with an eye on the prize and the team is confident that it is shaping up well just on time for the mega event.

India have picked a strong squad for the big challenge and it includes some established batters in Raj, Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur and Shafali Verma, among others.

In the bowling department, the evergreen seamer in Jhulan Goswami will lead the attack besides the likes of Poonam Yadav, Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma and Rajeshwari Gayakwad.

India have not been doing too well in the 50-over format and won only 13 matches since 2019 while losing 15. In their last three one-day international bilateral series in 2021 and 2022, they lost to England, Australia and New Zealand.

But yet captain Raj has said that her team is “more than capable” of winning the mega event which will kick off on Friday, March 4. India’s first match will be against arch-rivals Pakistan on March 6 at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui and a win there could give the side a much-needed confidence to take off in the tournament.

According to Raj who will turn 40 this year, if India manage to lift the crown, it will lead to an “incredible” impact on women’s cricket in India. In a column for the ICC, the ace batter wrote, “We have shown that we are more than capable of winning the trophy, it is now just a case of doing it and the impact of doing so would be incredible. I can only imagine what its effect would be.

“I clearly remember the emotions from the final of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2017, having come so close to winning. The match against England was played in a packed Lord’s stadium and to miss out on that chance is something that will rankle forever,” she said.

A big success at World Cup can impact women’s cricket in India

For India, much is at stake. If Raj’s girls can go on to make an emphatic statement in the tournament, it could speed up the Indian cricket board’s plan to hold a women’s Indian Premier League, something for which the chorus has been getting strong.

“Not only would it mean so much for the players and our families, but it would make a real difference for all our fans back home in India, where there is already great anticipation for a Women’s IPL. Our fans are some of the most passionate in the world and we know that they will be watching on. I’m sure if we did win, we would be able to hear them all the way from New Zealand,” Mithali said.

India have played New Zealand ahead of the World Cup and even though they lost the series by a distance (1-4), Raj feels the side has got itself familiarised with the local playing conditions, something that would help on the big occasion.

“The series in New Zealand has given us a chance to acclimatise, particularly to the seaming conditions we don’t often experience at home. Against England, we won one of the three ODI matches and put up a good fight in the other two before beating Australia to end their run of 26 one-day wins. Those results show what is possible if we come together as a team and believe in ourselves, and now, I am just excited to get out there and play,” the India skipper said.

The tournament will see a round-robin format with the participating eight teams playing each other with the top four qualifying for the semi-finals. Out of seven games, India will need to win four to five to ensure that they do not have to depend on other match results to qualify for the last four.

India will be favourites to win against teams like Pakistan, West Indies and Bangladesh who are placed below them in ICC one-day international rankings. However, they will be up against tough challenges against the SENA nations – South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia. While South Africa (who India beat by two runs in the warm-up game ahead of the World Cup), England and Australia are ahead of India in the rankings, the White Ferns are always a force to beat in their own den and it was clear in the recent one-day series.

Australia have won the title a record six times while England won it four times and New Zealand once. Australia will be the biggest hurdle for India in the World Cup and like in 2017 semi-finals, they will need to produce a superior show to beat the women in yellow. India have lost to Australia in the finals of the women’s T20 World Cup in early 2020 and in the recent one-day international series. Raj’s side will have to produce some extraordinary effort to beat an opponent it could tame only once in the last six meetings.

India’s key players

While India will be strongly banking on its two veterans – captain Raj and pacer Goswami – some other players will be key for the side’s success. India left out players like Punam Raut, Shikha Pandey and Jemimah Rodrigues – all of whom were part of the India squad that toured Australia last year – for the World Cup and that doubles the responsibility for those picked to make the country’s dream a reality.

Smriti Mandhana

Ace opening batter Smriti Mandhana will be a very important player for India in the tournament. Since 2019, the left-hand batter has been in a great form and has scored 859 runs in this period with one ton and seven fifties with a decent strike rate. Mandhana’s opening partnership with Shafali, will be something that the Indians will look forward to with the likes of Raj and Kaur playing deep anchors’ role in the middle overs. If Mandhana gets going in the tournament, then India’s concerns over batting will be far less than what they seem at the moment.

Jhulan Goswami

At 39, Jhulan ‘Chakda Express’ Goswami is still a force to reckon. This will be the veteran’s fifth World Cup in the 50-over format and she has always produced her best in the marquee tournament. In 28 games in the World Cup so far, Goswami has picked 36 wickets at an impressive average of 20 something and an economy rate of 3.25. She has been India’s leading wicket-taker in the one-day internationals since 2019 with 38 scalps in 24 outings, including two four-wicket bursts.

Harmanpreet Kaur

Raj’s deputy in the squad had not been in the best of touch with the bat until she struck a fifty in the final one-day match against New Zealand and a hundred in the warm-up game against South Africa. The 32-year-old admitted that she got into a shell before team psychologist Mugdha Bavare helped her in clearing her mind and regain the touch.

Kaur is one of the most prominent batters in the India line-up with experience of more than 110 games. If she hits the form at a crucial juncture, India will make an immense gain. The 171 not out that she had slammed in the 2017 World Cup semi-final against Australia still stand out as one the epic knocks of the tournament.

Pooja Vastrakar

Pooja Vastrakar has been an all-rounder that India had always been hunting for ever since the exit of Rumeli Dhar. Still in the early days of her career and set to appear in her maiden World Cup, Vastrakar could give that extra edge to the Indian side in all three departments, especially against the tough opponents.

Her 3 for 21 against the West Indies in a warm-up game ahead of the World Cup is an indication of what she is capable of and the Indian team management will hope to see the youngster making the most of the opportunity.

Mithali Raj

Playing her sixth and final World Cup, the ‘Sachin Tendulkar’ of India’s women cricket aspires to erase the biggest regret she holds: Not winning a World Cup. The veteran of 225 one-day international matches who had hit a ton on debut against Ireland in 1999, came very close to achieving her dream in 2005 and 2017 (she was the skipper on both occasions) but could not. The batter brings with herself a mountain of experience (seven hundreds and 62 fifties) and the Indian batting will be keenly looking at her as a key anchor during their pursuit of erecting big totals.

India squad for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2022:

Mithali Raj (c), Harmanpreet Kaur (vc), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Sneh Rana, Jhulan Goswami, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh Thakur, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav

India’s fixtures at the tournament:

March 6 – v Pakistan at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui

March 10 – v New Zealand at Seddon Park, Hamilton

March 12 – v West Indies at Seddon Park

March 16 – v England at Bay Oval

March 19 – v Australia at Eden Park, Auckland

March 22 – v Bangladesh at Seddon Park

March 28 – v South Africa at Hagley Oval, Christchurch

India’s chances at the 2022 women’s World Cup:

As a team with a mix of experience and youth, India will certainly be one of the top teams in the tournament. However, to emerge as the winners, they will need to have a solid start. If they can win at least three of their first four games, including against New Zealand and England, then the Asian side will have the momentum in its favour. Also, India’s batters need to explode if they aspire to dominate their opponents from the word go.