Team Preview: Can the young guns of India cause a major upset on Windies soil?

After having a successful T20 series against the Australia A side, India is all charged up for the World T20. Experience mixed with aggression, India is one of the strong contenders of this mega event who are capable of winning this.



 



Strengths:



India has a strong dominance over batting and bowling. Mithali Raj's experience with Smriti Mandhana's destructive batting can give a flying start where their partnership will play a crucial role for the team. Along with them, young gun Jemimah Rodrigues and captain Harmanpreet Kaur both are in great form. They can carry forward a destructive start to a flourishing end. With a solid batting line up, they are able to chase huge totals with ease as well as to set them.



Along with the batting, India has a strong bowling side too. Spin troika Ekta Bisht, Poonam Yadav and Radha Yadav can take early wickets as well as keep the opponents under pressure by giving dot balls. They have the ability to restrict their opponents to a below par score. With this impressive spin attack, they have Pooja Vastrakar, Mansi Joshi and Arundhati Reddy also in the hut.



 



Key Players:



There are many key players in the India team. In-form opener Smriti Mandhana is one of them. Her recent form can give a good start to the team as well as to chase them. Her stint with Western Storm in her maiden Super League went on a good note where she scored 421 in 9 innings.



Captain Harmanpreet Kaur too is in a good form. Her recent T20 series against Australia A ended up with a smashing 143 runs in 3 matches, including a half-century. Along with her, youngster Jemimah Rodrigues' present form can trouble the opponents.



Leg-break bowler Poonam Yadav will play the key role among bowlers. She has been in a stupendous form throughout the year. She has taken 5 wickets in the recently concluded T20 series against Australia A. Currently, in the career-best ranking (No. 2) in the shortest format of the game, Yadav is a big hurdle for other teams' win.



 



Areas of concern:



Pace spearheads Jhulan Goswami and Shikha Pandey's absence in the squad is a major area of concern for India. Inexperienced Arundhati Reddy and Mansi Joshi are new to the squad so this will be an advantage for the other teams to play against them.



India's middle order batters are still not in sync. They are not consistent with the bat. If the openers fail to give a good start to the team, then middle-order should take the responsibility. But sometimes, the collapse in the middle order is the biggest concern for India.



Moreover, the inexperience can pose a great threat for India as the squad has never played before in the West Indies except for Mithali Raj, Captain Harmanpreet Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy and Ekta Bisht. They have played there in 2012.



 



Youngsters to watch out for:



This India team is full of youngsters. Among them, Jemimah Rodrigues, Taniya Bhatia, Arundhati Reddy and Mansi Joshi are those youngsters who have the ability to do big in the upcoming World T20. Both Jemimah Rodrigues and Taniya Bhatia have been in a great form in the Sri Lanka series. Along with them, Reddy and Joshi were impressive with the ball.



 



Performance over last editions:



India doesn't have a great track record in the shortest format of the game. They have not been able to reach the semifinals in each of the last three editions. Their best results at the World T20s have been two semifinal appearances in 2009 & 2010.



Full fixtures here



 



Squad:



Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana, Mithali Raj, Jemimah Rodrigues, Veda Krishnamurthy, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia, Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Anuja Patil, Ekta Bisht, Dayalan Hemalatha, Mansi Joshi, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy