Women's 20-20 World Cup 2023: Three reasons why India might not win the trophy

The wait for the Women's 20-20 World Cup is coming to a quick end, with the tournament scheduled to begin on Friday. After winning the inaugural edition of the Under-19 Women's 20-20 World Cup in Benoni and Potchefstroom in January, the senior Indian women's contingent would be eyeing similar success.

However, a few issues with the Indian squad may prove to be major hindrances to their chances of winning silverware in South Africa. Here are three reasons why India might not win the Women's 20-20 World Cup.

Inexperienced Pace-bowling attack

Renuka Singh (Source: Twitter)

South African conditions are very different to the conditions in the sub-continent. While turning tracks and flat pitches make spinners important to the game in subcontinent conditions, pacers enjoy a much more critical role in South African conditions. Indian women's pace bowling attack can considerably be called inexperienced.

They are travelling with just three pacers, of which only Puja Vastrakar has some considerable experience. Renuka Singh has been firing well but has only played 27 WT20Is. The third member of the contingent, Anjali Sarvani, is the least experienced among all with just 6 WT20Is under her name. Allrounder Shikha Pandey will be necessary to balance out this pace contingent with her experience.

Inconsistent middle order

Harmanpreet Kaur (Image source: Twitter) 

The second major issue in the squad is regarding the middle order. Although the middle order has major stars like Jemimah Rodriguez and Harmanpreet Kaur, there are also very inexperienced young players like Harleen Deol, Yastika Bhatia and Richa Ghosh. Overall, it looks like a middle order susceptible to crumbling under pressure.

Jemimah Roddriguez and Richa Ghosh aside, no other player in the middle order has been in firing form. This raises significant concerns about India's batting depth in the upcoming Women's 20-20 World Cup. India will need some of the experienced players like Harmanpreet Kaur back in form if they are not to return from South Africa empty-handed.

Smriti Mandhana out of form can be a major blow

Smriti Mandhana (Source: Twitter)

Smriti Mandhana is a crucial player for the Indian women's T20 team. Not only does she open the batting for India, but she has turned into a key player for the team in recent years. As such, her lousy run of form does no favours to India. The middle order is already a hit-or-miss, and India needs its top order to set the foundation for competitive totals.

Since the new year, Mandhana has only gone past double figures once against the West Indies women's in her solid innings of 74 runs. Since then, she has had three ducks to her name in four innings. She also got out without scoring in the recent Women's 20-20 World Cup warm-up game against Australia women. As such, a star player being out of form is another major issue India will be going through in the tournament.