Gekberha (South Africa): The Indian team, which faced pressure situations in the first two matches, will have to avoid making any mistake in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 match against England (India vs England) to be held here on Saturday. A win against world number two team England will assure Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian team a place in the knockout stage. The top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals.

The Indian team defeated arch-rivals Pakistan by seven wickets in their first match and West Indies by six wickets in the second match. With these two wins, India has reached a strong position to qualify for the semi-finals. Young wicket-keeper batsman Richa Ghosh did well for India in the first two matches. The top order batsmen will have to perform well against England.

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India’s Under-19 World Cup winning captain Shafali Verma has failed to convert good starts into big scores. Smriti Mandhana, who made a comeback after recovering from a finger injury, was looking in good touch but she too could not score big in the last match. Jemimah Rodrigues will have to be consistent while skipper Harmanpreet is yet to score big. His highest score is 33.

The Indian batsmen will have to put up a tough fight against the English spin trio of Charlie Dean, Sophie Ecclestone and Sarah Glenn. The Indian bowlers did well against the West Indies but will need to be at their best against England, whose team boasts of young batsman Alice Capsey, who equaled the previous record for the fastest half-century in T20 World Cup history.

Pooja Vastrakar has delivered an impressive performance so far. She is making good use of the new ball along with Renuka Singh. Veteran Deepti Sharma has also played her role well so far. Indian fielding has not been great so far and any mistake by the fielders against England could cost the team dearly. On the other hand, England is also a strong contender to make it to the semi-finals like India. Both these teams have the same number of points but England are on top on the basis of better net run rate.

Teams are as follows:

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana, Shefali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Richa Ghosh, Jemima Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya, Radha Yadav, Renuka Thakur, Anjali Sarwani, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gaikwad and Shikha Pandey.

England: Heather Knight (c), Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Ellyse Capsy, Kate Cross, Freya Davies, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Sarah Glenn, Amy Jones, Katherine Sciver-Brunt, Nate Sciver-Brunt, Lauren Winfield-Hill and Danny Wyatt.

The match will start at 6.30 pm Indian time. (agency)