India Women will have to address its batting woes when it takes on England Women in a crucial league match of the T20 Tri-series here on Friday.
A mid-innings slump led to India’s four-wicket defeat in its previous match against Australia. This was after beating England by five wickets in the tournament-opener last week.
Except for opener Smriti Mandhana (35) and captain Harmanpreet Kaur (28), the Indian batters showed a complete lack of application on a pitch offering extra bounce at Canberra. India lost the last six wickets for 21 runs to concede the match with seven balls to spare.
The Indian batters, especially in the middle and lower-order, will need to produce a much-improved show against England to brighten their chances of reaching the final.
The squads:
India Women: Harmanpreet Kaur (Capt.), Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Veda Krishnamurthy, Taniya Bhatia, Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Radha Yadav, Richa Ghosh, Arundhati Reddy, Harleen Deol, Nuzhat Parween and Poonam Yadav.
England Women: Heather Knight (Capt.), Amy Ellen Jones (wk), Danielle Wyatt, Natalie Sciver, Fran Wilson, Katherine Brunt, Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Winfield, Freya Davies, Sophie Ecclestone, Sarah Glenn, Anya Shrubsole, Georgia Elwiss, Kate Cross and Mady Villiers.
Match starts at 8:40 a.m. IST.