India begin their Women's World T20 2018 campaign against New Zealand at the Province Stadium in Guyana on Friday, November 9.
When does the match start and how to watch it live
The T20I match between India and New Zealand will start at 11 am local time, 8:30 pm IST and 4 pm BST.
Star Sports 1 and Star Sports 1 HD will provide live television coverage of the match in India. The live stream will be available on Hotstar and Jio TV.
India vs New Zealand preview
India will begin their pursuit of a maiden World T20 title in the sixth edition of the tournament in the Caribbean from Friday. The Women in Blue's best performance in the tournament's history came in 2009 and 2010 wherein they reached the semi-final. However, they haven't managed to go past the group stages in the last three editions.
India have been drawn in Group B of the 10-team tournament alongside former champions Australia and Pakistan, Ireland, and New Zealand.
The Asian giants will be hoping for a good start to the tournament as momentum has always proved crucial in the shortest format of the game. Harmanpreet's side are heading into the tournament on the back of wins against former champions England and the West Indies in the warm-up matches.
India's defeat in the Asia Cup final earlier this year came as a big shock and called for changes in the setup of the women's team.
Coached by former India off-spinner Ramesh Powar, the new-look Indian side will be tested in the upcoming tournament.
"After the setback in the Asia Cup, everyone went back and worked hard. You can see everyone is up to the mark where you need to be at the international standard," vice-captain Smriti Mandhana said, as quoted by the Press Trust of India.
India will be without experienced campaigner Jhulan Goswami as veteran retired from the shortest format in the lead-up to the tournament. Pacer Shikha Pandey, who has shared the new ball with Goswami, is also not part of the squad.
With the absence of seasoned pacers, the onus to deliver will be on the Indian spinners, who have already shone in the warm-up matches. With the likes of Poonam Yadav, Deepti Sharma and Ekta Bisht in the line-up, India can afford to go in with a spin-heavy playing XI.
On the other hand, Indian top-order is loaded with experience as the trio of Hamanpreet, Mandhana and veteran Mithali Raj will lead the batting unit.
Jemimah Rodrigues and Taniya Bhatia have shown a lot of promise but it remains to be seen if the two youngsters can fire at the big stage. Veda Krishnamurthy's presence in the middle order will be a big boost for the team.
India will be wary of New Zealand's former captain Suzy Bates, who has set the stage on fire in T20s this season. The 31-year-old has scored more than 500 runs in the shortest format of the game this season and is known for her ability to demolish opposition attacks.
Squads
India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana, Mithali Raj, Jemimah Rodrigues, Veda Krishnamurthy, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia, Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Anuja Patil, Ekta Bisht, Dayalan Hemalatha, Mansi Joshi, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy.
New Zealand: Amy Satterthwaite (c), Suzie Bates, Bernadine Bezuidenhout, Sophie Devine, KE Ebrahim, Maddy Green, Holly Huddleston, Hayley Jensen, Leigh Kasperek, Amelia Kerr, Katey Martin, Lea Tahuhu, Jess Watkin, Anna Peterson, Hannah Rowe.
