India will be looking to clinch its maiden senior ICC trophy at the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, set to begin on October 3 in UAE.
The Women in Blue came agonisingly close to tasting silverware during the 2020 edition of the tournament but fell short in the final. This remains their best-ever finish at the T20 World Cup.
During that iteration of the tournament, India, which was skippered by Harmanpreet Kaur, was almost untouchable. It kicked off proceedings with a 17-run win against host Australia.
It beat fellow Group A teams in New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh to top the table with a sparkling record. In the semifinal, it was to face England, which had finished second in Group B.
However, the danger of rain lashing the semifinals was looming large with forecasts suggesting the same. Cricket Australia had requested ICC to keep a reserve day for the final-four matches, but the same was turned down.
Rain did play the spoilsport in India’s match against England, and washed out the semifinal. To India’s relief, it had a better group-stage record than the English, which booked its place in the final. In the other semifinal, Australia got the better of South Africa to enter a sixth consecutive final.
This was India’s maiden T20 World Cup final and its record throughout the tournament pitted the side to put up a strong fight against serial-winner Australia. However, the Women in Blue were handed a huge 85-run defeat at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Poonam Yadav was the only Indian to be named in the ICC T20 World Cup XI. The leg spinner picked up 10 wickets. Another bright spot was a 16-year-old Shafali Verma, who scored 171 runs. The batter was named as the tournament XI’s 12th player.
With as many as nine players from the 2020 squad travelling to UAE, India will hope to replace the painful memory with a happy one.
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