The Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 sits on the horizon as the 12 teams are gearing up to put their best foot forward in the 24-day-long global showpiece in England that kicks off on June 12. For the first time, 12 teams will be featuring in the T20 World Cup as the expanded tournament promises to be an action-packed one.
For the first time too, India enter a senior women’s ICC tournament with the trophy monkey off their backs. They have the ODI World title with them and a whole lot of confidence from their victory at home last year in November. However, things are not going to be easy for the Harmanpreet Kaur-led team in this tournament, either.ย
India placed in a tough group
India have been placed in a group that features the mighty Australia and twin T20 finalists South Africa. Minnows Bangladesh, Pakistan and debutants Netherlands can’t be called pushovers either, as the format does not give much of a chance to the teams to bounce back once down.ย
The Women in Blue would be careful of the fact that they suffered a group stage exit in the previous T20 World Cup in the UAE after being defeated by Australia and New Zealand, who were the eventual champions.ย
Form is another thing that India are not having on their side currently. While the Women in Blue defeated Sri Lanka at home and Australia away, they come into this tournament on the back of a 1-4 loss to South Africa and a 1-2 loss to England, both away assignments.ย
How could India line up?
India’s hopes will be pinned on Smriti Mandhana, who has been the top run-scorer for the team in the format. She was also the leading run-scorer for the Women in Blue in the ODI World Cup 2025 win. She will be partnered with Shafali Verma at the top of the order.ย
India have brought back Yastika Bhatia, who has impressed in the recent outings at No.3, which pushes Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet to No.4 and 5. Then there are Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh, and the Indian top seven looks strong.ย
However, the injury forced absence of Amanjot Kaur and Kashvee Gautam would be felt. India might not have a proper sixth bowling option in the absence of these two. The bowling unit would feature four of the Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, Kranti Gaud, Shree Charani, Shreyanka Patil, Nandani Sharma and Radha Yadav.
India open their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on June 14 in Birmingham before a trip to Headingley for their Netherlands game on June 17. The caravan will then move to Manchester to face South Africa and Bangladesh on June 21 and 25 before their final league stage outing against the mighty Australians at Lord’s on June 28.
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