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Another edition of the 2024 Women's T20 World Cup is upon us! The venue has been a topic of big debate, with the UAE finally being settled on to host the tournament. Bangladesh and Scotland kicked off the tournament, and the two matches played on the opening day indicate that it won't be a particularly high-scoring one.
The second day of matches features two exciting clashes, the second of which will see India and New Zealand kicking off their respective campaigns. Harmanpreet Kaur and Co. are one of the outright favorites to make the semifinals, while the White Ferns aren't in a great run of form in T20I cricket right now and aren't expected to go all the way.
Nevertheless, it promises to be a tightly contested affair, with conditions leveling the playing field to a decent extent. While India come into this contest with wins in each of their two warmup matches against South Africa and West Indies, New Zealand got past the former by a comfortable margin before falling to England.
India's squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, D Hemalatha, Asha Sobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, Sajeevan Sajana.
New Zealand's squad: Sophie Devine (captain), Suzie Bates, Eden Carson, Isabella Gaze (wk), Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Fran Jonas, Leigh Kasperek, Jess Kerr, Amelia Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Molly Penfold, Georgia Plimmer, Hannah Rowe, Lea Tahuhu.
2024 Women's T20 World Cup: India look to get off to winning start against New Zealand
India are slated to play Harmanpreet Kaur at No. 3, having settled on the veteran after trying out many options in the role. While they could choose between playing an additional batter in Yastika Bhatia and having an extra bowler, it's certain that most batting slots are already filled.
While Harmanpreet has a proven record in ICC tournaments, she has been in rather poor form of late. New Zealand will look to prey on that weakness early in the Women's T20 World Cup and try to expose the weak underbelly of India's batting lineup.
However, the White Ferns themselves have issues to sort out. Their batting hasn't been particularly potent lately, with captain Sophie Devine getting off to starts in the middle order without converting them into big ones as often as she used to. There's also the case of Devine being followed by a few inexperienced names, something India will be keen to exploit.
New Zealand are on a rather long losing streak in T20Is right now, and India clearly outmatch them on all fronts. While the Kiwis have beaten the Women in Blue in four of their last five meetings, their last clash was in February 2022 and likely isn't an indication of what is to come in the 2024 Women's T20 World Cup.
New Zealand are definitely in with a shout, but India can be backed to get their campaign off to a winning start.
Prediction: India to win Match 4 of the 2024 Women's T20 World Cup.
