Australia won the Women's T20 World Cup in 2023© AFP
Australia are hot favourites for their seventh title at the women's T20 World Cup starting Thursday in their first tournament appearance since the retirement of four-time tournament-winning captain Meg Lanning. New skipper Alyssa Healy faces a challenge in the United Arab Emirates, leading a team that has only failed twice to win the 20-over trophy since the competition was first staged in 2009. The 34-year-old wicketkeeper-batter has been a member of all six of Australia's prior title wins but said she was entering this year's tournament with "no real expectations".
"It's the best against the best and whoever can be most consistent or win those little moments along the way can get the job done," Healy wrote in a column for the International Cricket Council's website.
She nonetheless said her team was brimming with young talent, naming up-and-coming all-rounder Annabel Sutherland, 22, and batting phenomenon Phoebe Litchfield, 21, as players to watch.
Australia face formidable rivals India and New Zealand in their group. They arrive in the UAE fresh from a 3-0 T20 sweep of the Kiwis.
India's prospects have been buoyed by the runaway success of the Women's Premier League at home since the 20-over competition's inaugural season last year.
"If I talk about this team, we have a few players who have been playing for a long time and they know their roles really well," skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said.
"This is the best team we are going for a T20 World Cup with."
India finished runners-up in 2020 and lost in the semi-finals in 2018 and 2023.
New Zealand's Sophie Devine will step down as captain at the end of the tournament after playing in every World Cup, earning two runner-up finishes.
"The T20 World Cup's been an important vehicle in the development and growth of the women's game," Devine said.
Sri Lanka and Pakistan round out the first group while Bangladesh, England, Scotland, South Africa and the West Indies make up the second.
'Breaking the barriers'
The South Africans, who lost to Australia in last year's final in Cape Town, have a new captain in Laura Wolvaardt who is keen to build on that performance.
"Reaching our first-ever World Cup final in 2023 was a big landmark moment for us," she wrote on the ICC website.
The Proteas surprisingly beat England in the semi-finals.
"It was a big 'breaking the barriers and pushing the boundaries' moment for the team.
"Before that, we'd made the semi-finals on a number of occasions, so to be able to go that one step further was very important for us as a group.
"Now we'd like to go that one step further and lift the trophy."
Heather Knight's experienced England side, which includes Nat Sciver-Brunt, Alice Capsey, Sophie Ecclestone and Lauren Bell, will be keen for revenge when they meet the Proteas on October 7.
Bangladesh face Scotland at Sharjah in the opening match of the tournament, where the prize money is for the first time equal to the men's edition with a $2.34 million purse for the winners of the October 20 final.
That is a 134 percent increase on the $1 million awarded to the Australians when they clinched the title in South Africa last year.
The ICC said the move was intended "to prioritise the women's game and accelerate its growth".
Bangladesh were slated to host the tournament but it was shifted to Dubai and Sharjah after weeks of political unrest in July and August ousted the government of autocratic ex-premier Sheikh Hasina.