File photo of Shafali Verma© X (Twitter)
Ahead of the highly anticipated ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024, India Women's opener Shafali Verma expressed her admiration for Australia's Alyssa Healy, praising her batting performance during the powerplay. India will kick off their T20 World Cup campaign against New Zealand on October 4 at Dubai International Stadium. Prior to the tournament, India will play warm-up matches against the West Indies and South Africa. "I would say Alyssa Healy, because whenever she is in good form, she makes the most of the powerplay and continues to build her innings afterward. She always looks to play the full 20 overs, so I would choose her," Shafali said in an interview with Star Sports.
India reached their first-ever T20 World Cup final in 2020 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a night filled with hope for clinching the elusive title. However, Harmanpreet's side was bowled out for 99 while chasing 185 against Australia.
In the previous edition of the T20 World Cup in 2022, India once again came close to making history, reaching the semi-finals. However, Australia once more proved to be an obstacle in the final four.
In the lead-up to the T20 World Cup, India has had mixed results. They lost the T20I series against Australia and England earlier this year, but Harmanpreet's side rebounded with two consecutive series wins against Bangladesh.
In July, India's T20I series against South Africa ended in a draw. In the Asia Cup 2024, India lost the final to Sri Lanka, who remained unbeaten throughout the tournament.
Squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, Dayalan Hemalatha, Asha Sobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, Sajana Sajeevan.
Travelling reserves: Uma Chetry (wk), Tanuja Kanwer, Saima Thakor.
Non-travelling reserves: Raghvi Bist, Priya Mishra.