ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024: Harmanpreet Kaur named Captain, Smriti Mandhana Vice-Captain for 15-Member Squad

Harmanpreet Kaur will lead a 15-member Indian women’s cricket team for the upcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024. Smriti Mandhana will be Harmanpreet’s deputy for the marquee tournament.

The 15-member squad was named by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) women’s selection committee on Tuesday.

The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 will be held from October 3 to October 20 in UAE with Dubai and Sharjah hosting the tournament. The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in Bangladesh but the volatile political scenario and the ensuing unrest meant many countries had issued travel advisories against travelling to Bangladesh.

The ICC think-tank then relocated the tournament to UAE, with the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) retaining the hosting rights.

Wicketkeeper Yastika Bhatia and spinner Shreyanka Patil have been included in the squad but their place in the 15-player squad will only be finalised after their necessary clearances from the medical team. Both players are currently in rehab nursing injuries.

Uma Chetry, Tanuja Kanwer and Saima Thakor have been named as travelling reserves while Raghavi Bist and Priya Mishra have been named as non-travelling reserves.

The top 10 teams in the world will play for the top honours in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. The 10 teams have been divided into two groups of five teams each with defending champions Australia, India, Pakistan, New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Group A. Bangladesh, England, South Africa, West Indies and Scotland are in Group B.

Each team will play four group stage matches and the top two teams from each group will advance to the semifinals. If qualified, India will play the first semifinal in Dubai.

The Indian women’s team will open their campaign against New Zealand while the marquee India vs Pakistan match will take place in Dubai on October 6.

The Indian team will also play two warm-up games against South Africa and West Indies prior to the tournament.

Indian squad for ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wicketkeeper), Yastika Bhatia (wicketkeeper), Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh Thakur, Dayalan Hemalatha, Asha Sobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil and S. Sajeevan.

Travelling reserves: Uma Chetry, Tanuja Kanwer and Saima Thakor

Non-travelling reserves: Raghvi Bist and Priya Mishra