Women’s T20 World Cup 2024: Key takeaways from warm-up fixtures as teams fine-tune ahead of main tournament – MASHAHER

Ten games, countless notes on team whiteboards and a few dozen buckets of sweat later, the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 warm-up fixtures are finally over. Participating sides have had an opportunity to steam out those last-minute creases and get their affairs in order before the tournament gets underway on October 3. 

Teams have been clear about not reading too much into the player and strategy choices we’ve seen over the past week, as the primary aim has been to acclimatise. The practice surfaces at the ICC Academy were fairly challenging and were gripping a fair bit, not allowing batters to get going in the first phase of the game or bat with abandon while chasing. 

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India played South Africa, and New Zealand faced England, barely a few metres away from each other. Harmanpreet Kaur and Co. will get its campaign in the UAE started against the White Ferns on October 4 but should guard against taking a low on momentum and struggling Kiwi outfit lightly. 

Against England, New Zealand’s batting card was ordinary. Amelia Kerr had to tether herself to the pitch, carrying her bat in an unbeaten 46-ball 64. While Sophie Devine and Izzy Gaze managed 24 and 26, respectively, everyone else scored in single figures. 

Lea Tahuhu and Rosemary Mair (returning to the senior team post-recovery from a back injury) picked two wickets each, while Eden Carson removed the dangerous Dani Wyatt to leave England in a spot of bother at 97/5 at the start of the 14th over. But a calm and composed England, with Jon Lewis watching keenly from the boundary line, got the job done. 

New Zealand will rue these kinds of situations where the side is able to create opportunities but isn’t able to seal the deal. 

India fielded a fluid side for its warm-up fixture against the Proteas. Much emphasis in this World Cup has been on openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma, who have struck a rich vein of form as a batting coalition on top of the pile. Shafali had an underwhelming run-up to the main tournament with a two-ball duck against South Africa and a 10-ball seven against the West Indies in the warm-up leg but didn’t seem too hassled by the same as she walked in for throw downs after the SA fixture.

The most interesting experiment around the Indian batting lineup this week in Dubai has been skipper Harmanpreet walking in at number 3. This is a curious turn of events as that spot has been the focus of much debate in the lead-up to the tournament, with two potential suitors, Yastika Bhatia and Dayalan Hemalatha, in the fray to slot in for India. 

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Hemalatha was given an extended run in this position through the Asia Cup and series against Bangladesh and South Africa with a mixed bag of results. Yastike returns after a long injury layoff. It would have been wiser to accord these two players game time to figure out who enters this side. Harmanpreet herself is a momentum player and needs the engine to warm up before it can go ballistic. It remains to be seen whether the gamble of taking away crucial practice time for an unsteady but pivotal batting position will pay off.

Asha Sobhana Joy will be happy with her three-wicket haul (two against SA, one vs the Windies) in the warm-ups but will hope to replicate her incredible economy rate of 2.33 vs the Windies after being a bit more expensive than she would have liked against the Proteas (7.00). 

Richa Ghosh has slowly warmed up to the pace of play in the UAE. In the weeks leading to the team’s departure to the UAE, she revealed that she was working on facing slower deliveries and adapting her power game to those challenges. Against South Africa, she effortlessly got the ball over the bowler’s head and the peripheries along the V, scoring at a very healthy strike rate of 144.

Against the Proteas, after the top order fell fairly early, the onus was placed on Richa and Deepti Sharma’s shoulders once more to stabilise the Indian scorecard. The clumps of wickets falling towards the end, while a minor red flag, might be something the Indians don’t want to ignore once again, as it may prove costly against sides with a deeper and more determined tail than theirs. The game was followed by Richa settling in for a long chat with head coach Amol Muzumdar. 

Radha Yadav was expensive against the Windies, registering an economy rate of 12.50 a few days ago. She recovered to give away 11 runs in two overs against South Africa. After India sealed the warm-up game in its favour and the players cleared the field, Radha made her way to the centre of the pitch and sat in silence for a while. She had a bottle of water with her and spent over 20 minutes by herself, occasionally lying down and gazing into the expansive Dubai night sky, with no one to disturb her but the occasional whiz of cars from the adjacent motorway. 

After India sealed the warm-up game in its favour against South Africa and the players cleared the field, Radha made her way to the centre of the pitch and sat in silence for a while.
| Photo Credit:
Lavanya Lakshmi Narayanan 

Radha has had a trying build-up to the World Cup after requiring an evacuation by the National Disaster Response Force when her home in Baroda was flooded due to torrential rain in August.

India’s ground fielding looked positive, but the ‘Ring of Fire’ – the circular run along stadium lights in Dubai will be challenging for all participating teams. 

With the heat being the biggest challenger in the mix, teams will hope to have their electrolytes and ice packs ready to go. India and New Zealand are among the first bunch of sides to get going in the tournament, while the likes of England and Australia have a few days to get a good look at the opposition and, more importantly, the conditions (particularly in Sharjah). Everyone, UAE included – which is hosting its biggest international women’s cricket tournament – will hope to put their best foot forward.