Women's 20-20 World Cup 2023: India's predicted XI against West Indies

India will look to continue their winning run as they are set to face West Indies on Wednesday, February 15 in their second match of the Women’s 20-20 World Cup. The Women in Blue convincingly beat Pakistan in their first match.

India defeated Pakistan in the first match by 7 wickets with one over to spare and got 2 points, as a result. Ahead of the second game against West Indies, India are likely to make changes in their playing XI.

Here's a look at India’s predicted XI for their second match of the World Cup campaign against West Indies.

1. Top Order: 

Jemimah Rodrigues and Smriti Mandhana (Source - Twitter)

India’s vice-captain Smriti Mandhana is likely to make a comeback in the upcoming contest against West Indies. She will be replacing Yastika Bhatia, who scored only 17 runs off 20 deliveries in the first match.

Destructive opener Shafali Verma will continue to open the innings as she played a handy knock against Pakistan. Jemimah Rodrigues was named Player of the match in India’s opening contest and will continue to bat at no.3.

2. Middle Order

Harleen Deol and Richa Ghosh (Source - Twitter)

The right-hander batter, Harleen Deol can play some crucial knocks in the middle order despite failing in the warm-up match. She also didn’t get to bat in the first match. Wicketkeeper batter, Richa Ghosh will also be eying a big knock in the second match. She cleared her intention clear after played a quickfire inning of 31 runs off just 20 deliveries.

All-rounders:

Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma (Source - Twitter)

Indian skipper and all-rounder Harmanpreet Kaur will look to show some fireworks with the bat against the Women from Caribbean. Young all-rounder, Pooja Vastrakar displayed a good bowling performance in the warm-up match against Australia and in the first match as well.

She picked up a wicket while conceding 30 runs in her 4 overs. She will look to continue her discipline bowling performance in the upcoming game as well. Deepti Sharma can use her experience and provide some early breakthroughs as she might bowl in the powerplay. However, she proved pretty expensive against Pakistan as she leaked 39 runs in 4 overs.

Bowlers:

Renuka Singh Thakur and Radha Yadav (Source - Twitter)

India’s pace battery Renuka Singh will look to have a good outing with the ball in the second match as she went wicketless against Pakistan. Left-arm orthodox Radha Yadav bowled brilliantly in the first match as she clinched 2 wickets while conceding only 21 runs in 4 overs. Shikha Pandey might replace Rajeshwari Gayakwad in the second match as the latter couldn’t provide anything special to the team.

Team India's predicted playing XI against West Indies: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Shikha Pandey, Radha Yadav, Renuka Singh Thakur