INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Drawing inspiration from previous masters, mentors or heroes is absolutely nothing new
However an attire Harmanpreet Kaur and her team must look for inspiration from is the India womens U-19 group, who are the freshly crowned
world T20 champions.The Shafali Verma-led side won the inaugural edition in Potchefstroom last month and the senior side, which is chasing
an evasive ICC Trophy, will open their Womens T20 World Cup campaign at the other end of South Africa, in Cape Town on Sunday.Bunched in
group B in addition to Pakistan, England, Ireland and West Indies, first up for the previous editions runners-up are the neighbours
marshalled by Bismah Maroof.While the storied fights between the 2 well known challengers covers over seven decades in maless cricket, it is
relatively new among ladies with the first match in between the two sides played in 2005
That stated, the freshness of the rivalry takes absolutely nothing away from the intensity or spotlight surrounding it.In the shortest
format, India are the dominant side, having actually won 10 of the 13 face-offs between the two sides
The last time the two sides satisfied in the Asia Cup last year, Pakistan ended on the winning side
But come Sunday, India, offered their preparations and line-up will begin as formbook favourites
This, regardless of a major setback in the kind of the absence of Smriti Mandhana
The vice-captain and batting ace, is down with a finger injury.Confirming the very same, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, the stand-in coach, stated:
Smriti has a finger injury and is still recovering, so she wont play most-likely
Its not a fracture and were hopeful she will be available from the second video game onwards
On the other hand, in a big relief, skipper Harmanpreet has actually recuperated from a shoulder niggle and is fit to lead the side
She has batted in the nets for the previous two days and is fine, Kanitkar added.Perennial underachievers on the ICC platform, India have
ticked many boxes in the run-up to the competitors
Their preparations have consisted of a five-match house series against safeguarding champs Australia, an extreme camp and acclimatisation
over three weeks which included a tri-series
Pakistan on the other hand gotten ready for the competition with a home series versus Ireland prior to travelling to Australia for a limited
overs tour.Even without Smriti, Indias batting has depth with Shafali, Richa Ghosh, Harmanpreet, Deepti Sharma and Devika Vaidya
The toss up for Smritis No
3 position will be between Jemimah Rodrigues and Harleen Deol.
