"Lot of fun opening with Shafali": Indian opener Smriti Mandhana ahead of ICC Women's T20 World Cup

Ahead of the upcoming ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), India Women (IND W) opener Smriti Mandhana heaped praise on her teammate Shafali Verma and shared her experience while opening the innings along with her for the national team. Shafali has also played 81 T20Is since she made her international debut with this format back in 2019, scoring 1,948 runs at an average of 25.63 and a strike rate of over 130, with 10 half-centuries. His best score is 81.

"It's a lot of fun opening with Shafali. The conversations between us are pretty funny. I hope the mic never catches them because they can be really random! We've been opening together for the last 2-3 years and know each other's game really well. Many times, we don't even need to talk; we can just communicate with gestures. There's a great bond between us, and if we get going in the powerplay, it's always good for the team," the southpaw said while speaking at the Star Sports Press Room.

Last month, the Indian women's team landed in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the ICC Women's T20 World Cup starts from October 3 onwards. In the last edition of the T20 World Cup in 2022, India again came close to making history, storming into the semi-finals. However, Australia proved to be a stumbling block once again 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 bounced back 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. India will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against New Zealand on October 4 at Dubai International Stadium. In the T20 World Cup last year, Australia defeated South Africa at home by 19 runs to win their sixth title. Meanwhile, India made it to the semifinals, losing to the Aussies by five runs.

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. (ANI)