3 Reasons why India may not win the Women's T20 World Cup 2024

On Tuesday, BCCI named the Indian squad for the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 event. The tournament is to be played in UAE starting from the 3rd of October with the final to be played 20th of October. Team India has never won the event and their best finish was as the runners-up during the campaign held in 2020. 

Harmanpreet Kaur has been handed the baton of captaincy once more with Smriti Mandhana being named her deputy. Team India reached the semi-finals of the last tournament held in 2023 in South Africa. The women in blue lost to Australia by 5 runs in the semi-finals. 

The task will be enormous for the Indian team as they will face huge challenges to make it to the semi-finals. Indian eves recently lost the Asia Cup finals to Sri Lanka to end their hold over the continental title. 

Here are the top three reasons why India may not win the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 title

3- Injury concerns to key players 

Yastika Bhatia and Shreyanka Patil have been named in the Indian squad for the T20 Women’s World Cup. There is a huge question mark over the two players as the two stars are yet to recover from injuries ahead of the massive tournament. 23-year-old Yastika Bhatia has just started training and is yet to play a game since April. 

Shreyanka Patil on the other hand will be a key player for the Indian side. The 22-year-old is a very dangerous spinner with her wicket-taking abilities. Shreyanka Patilm got injured during the Women’s Asia Cup 2024 tournament and there is no word yet on her status. 

2- Key players’ form and fielding concerns

Two of the key factors that could prevent India from winning the T20 Women’s Cricket World Cup is the form of some players. Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Varma have been in good form at the top of the order. It is the form of Jemimah Rodrigues, Pooja Vastrakar, and Deepti Sharma that will concern the fans a bit. The three stars haven’t performed badly but their form has been on the inconsistent side. 

Another concern that the Indian fans will have is the fact that their fielding has been below par. India dropped key catches and made a few easy runs during the finals of the Women’s Asia Cup tournament against Sri Lanka. Team India has in the past snapped under pressure and this could be a key reason behind the likelihood of not winning the Women’s T20 World Cup. 

1- Team India placed in a strong group

If India has to win the Women’s T20 World Cup they have to get past a few formidable opponents in the group stage matches. The women in blue are in the same group as Australia and New Zealand. The two sides have shown that they can pick up their game when needed and tend to do well in ICC events. Sri Lanka has just beaten India in the Asia Cup final and will head into the tournament high on confidence. Finally any India vs Pakistan game comes down to nerves and despite their superior record, India cannot afford to take Pakistan lightly.