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India will take on New Zealand in the opening encounter of their Women's T20 World Cup at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Friday, October 4. The former have a massive advantage over their opponents and will hope to pick up an early win in the tournament.
New Zealand have lost the last 10 matches that they have played in this format, and this makes them incredibly vulnerable to India's charms. Harmanpreet Kaur's side have won the two warmup matches they have played so far and come into this encounter with a lot of momentum.
Despite having covered almost all bases in their squad, India do seem to have quite a few concerns. These issues need to be resolved by the team management if they intend to win the World Cup title and recreate what their male counterparts did earlier this year.
In this listicle, we take a look at three major concerns for India ahead of the World Cup:
#1 Fielding and fitness
The biggest concerns for India ahead of the Women's T20 World Cup have to be in their fielding and fitness departments. The former, especially, has been the Achilles heel of Harmanpreet's team in ICC competitions - and elsewhere - in the past.
Most recently, this came to the fore in the Women's Asia Cup final, in which they were beaten by hosts Sri Lanka quite comprehensively. Misfields and a couple of dropped catches cost them the title that they were expected to defend.
However, India have undergone a training camp at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru in which coach Amol Muzumdar and skipper Harmanpreet have been reported to stress upon the importance of improving in these departments.
#2 Lower-order batting
While wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh has often provided India with a lot of impetus lower down the order, this is a minor concern that the team will look to weed out before their tournament opener against New Zealand.
Deepti Sharma too looks in good nick, but the others in the side have to step up when the pressure gets to them. In their recent warmup game against South Africa, the lower order fired, and India will hope that it becomes a regular occurrence.
#3 Pace bowling
It is widely known that spin bowling is India's strength no matter where they play. While this is true, it will not harm the management to work on their pace bowling options. Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy and Renuka Singh have done well over the years, but India will want consistency from them.
If India are to win the title this year, they will have to fire on all fronts, be it in batting, bowling or fielding. In the bowling department, the spinners have always held their own even in challenging conditions, but it is time for the seamers to step up and lead the way for a title charge that many feel they deserve.
