Enjoying home advantage with current form on their side, the Indian women's cricket team will look to end a 47-year wait for its maiden ICC title when it takes the field at the ODI World Cup with a clash against Sri Lanka here on Tuesday.
Ranked World No. 3, the Harmanpreet Kaur-led India will look to make the most of the home conditions in the 13th edition of the tournament, which has returned to India after 12 years. The tournament will feature eight top-ranked teams, including Australia, England, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan, competing in 28 league matches in a round-robin format across four venues in India and one in Colombo for a record prize money of USD 13.88 million.
The prize pool is also nearly four times higher than 2022 and surpasses the men's 2023 edition (US $10 million) to be in line with the ICC's push for pay parity and growth of women's cricket.
The Sri Lankan capital will host 11 round-robin matches, including Pakistan's seven league stage games and the clash against India on October 5. One semifinal and the final are also scheduled there if Pakistan go all the way.
On current form, India are in the driver’s seat, having recently beaten England in both ODI and T20I series. They also ended a worrying losing streak against Australia in a recent tournament build-up series. The Indians nearly chased down 413 in the final ODI in New Delhi against a team chasing a record-extending eighth title.
Indian vice-captain Smriti Mandhana remains the fulcrum of the batting unit, enjoying the form of her life at the top of the order. The left-hander has already struck four ODI centuries, including two back-to-back against Australia, this year. She averages 66.28 with a strike rate of 115.85. Her partnerships with young opener Pratika Rawal, who has provided stability at the top, give India the cushion to post or chase big totals in the absence of Shafali Varma.
Playing her fifth World Cup, Harmanpreet, who reserves her best for big tournaments, has a tournament average of over 50. She hit a century against England recently and followed it up with a fifty against Australia. Jemimah Rodrigues, back from injury, scored a composed 66 in the warm-up against England and adds depth to the middle order.
Richa Ghosh, Harleen Deol and Deepti Sharma also pack a punch, while Amanjot Kaur offers a seam-bowling all-round option. The return of Renuka Singh from an injury would bolster the pace attack as she would spearhead India’s bowling attack. Kranti Goud (22), with only six caps to her name, has shown promise with her pace and variations, including her searing yorkers.
During India’s tour of England this summer, she joined Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav as the only Indian players to ever take six wickets in ODIs in England, with her 6/52 at Chester-le-Street.
On the other hand, the spin lineup led by Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Sneh Rana and N Sree Charani is tailor-made for home conditions, but it remains to be seen how much turn they can extract from the flat tracks.
Also read: Harmanpreet counts on right mix of youth, experience
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