Team India, Women’s T20 World Cup 2026: The countdown for the Women’s T20 World Cup to be held on English soil has started. In this ICC tournament, the Indian women’s cricket team will start its campaign against arch-rival Pakistan on June 14. But at present, the problem for Harmanpreet Kaur and company is not that, but due to which the problems seem to have increased, it is the problem of Smriti Mandhana and Shefali Verma. Both Smriti and Shefali are the openers of the Indian team and the problem is that both of their bats have become silent as the tournament approaches.
Partnership did not work against England
Smriti Mandhana And the latest example of the silence of Shafali Verma’s bat was seen in the recently concluded 3 T20 match series against England. Neither Shefali nor Mandhana played in all three matches of this series. Forget about partnership, the individual performance of both has also been equally poor.
First of all, let’s talk about the partnership between Smriti and Shefali in the T20 series against England. In the first T20, both of them did not add a single run on the score board. There was a partnership of 27 runs between the two in the second T20. In the third and last T20, Smriti-Shefali together added 19 runs to the score board.
Smriti-Shefali’s bat silent
Now just look at the individual performance of these two. Smriti Mandhana’s account did not open in the first T20 series against England. Whereas Shefali also scored only 2 runs. In the second T20, Smriti scored 32 runs while Shefali played an inning of 22 runs. Whereas in the third and last T20, Smriti once again could not cross the double figures and scored only 8 runs. Whereas Shefali scored 11 runs.
Smriti-Shefali did not even score 50 runs in the T20 series
The performance of Smriti Mandhana and Shefali Verma has been so bad that neither of them is in the top-5 list of overall run scorers in the T20 series against England. It became difficult for both of them to add even 50 runs in the 3 matches of the series. Smriti Mandhana scored 40 runs in 3 matches of the T20 series at an average of 13.33, while Shefali Verma scored 35 runs at an average of 11.66.
Smriti-Shefali’s problem, Team India’s problem
To register victory on a stage like the Women’s T20 World Cup, it is very important to get a good start. Smriti Mandhana and Shefali Verma have to do that work for the Indian team. But, the current form of both of them has increased the difficulties of Team India. Smriti and Shefali have been players in big matches. In such a situation, it can be expected that both of them will be seen in their old colors in the T20 World Cup.
Leave a Reply