Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur addresses a press conference.
Credit: PTI Photo
Indian women's cricket team will look to end a 47-year wait for its maiden International Cricket Council (ICC) title when it takes the field at the ODI World Cup starting with a clash against Sri Lanka in Guwahati on Tuesday.
Ranked world No.3, the Harmanpreet Kaur-led India will look to make the most of their familiarity with conditions in the 13th edition of the tournament, that is returning to India after 12 years.
The global showpiece will feature eight top ranked teams -- Australia, England, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan -- competing in 28 league matches in a round-robin format across four venues in India and one in Colombo for a prize money of $13.88 million.
The Sri Lankan capital will host 11 round-robin matches, including Pakistan's seven league stage games and the marquee clash against India on October 5.
One semifinal and the final are also scheduled there, should Pakistan go all the way.
On current form, India arrive with confidence, having recently beaten England in both ODI and T20I series.
They also ended a worrying losing sequence against Australia in a recent tournament build-up series. The Indians nearly chased down 413 in the final ODI in New Delhi against the team which is chasing a record-extending eighth title.
Indian vice-captain Smriti Mandhana remains the fulcrum of the batting unit, enjoying the form of her life at the top of order.
The left-hander has already struck four ODI centuries, including two back-to-back against Australia, this year. She averages 66.28 with a strike rate of 115.85.
Playing her fifth World Cup, Harmanpreet, who reserves her best for big tournaments, carries a tournament average of over 50. She smashed a century against England recently and followed it up with a fifty against Australia.
Jemimah Rodrigues, back from injury, scored a composed 66 in the warm-up against England and adds stability in the middle order.
Return of Renuka Singh from an injury would bolster the pace attack as she would spearhead the bowling on flatbeds across the venues.
However, India's pace department remains thin on experience.
Renuka aside, the other pacers -- Kranti, Arundhati Reddy and Amanjot -- have played just 25 ODIs between them and the bowling has conceded 300-plus scores in recent past.
The spin line-up led by Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Sneh Rana and N Sree Charani, is tailor-made for home conditions but it remains to be seen how much turn would be on offer in the flat decks.
India's biggest challenge could be mental, as history shows a tendency to falter in crunch situations.
They let slip winning positions in the 2017 World Cup final and in the recent memory, the 2022 Commonwealth Games final, going down to Australia narrowly.
Tournament co-hosts Sri Lanka, led by Chamari Athapaththu, return to the World Cup after missing out on qualification in 2022.
Sri Lanka will rely on 20-year-old all-rounder Dewmi Vihanga, who has already shown her pedigree in the format.
With five of their league games scheduled at home, they will be boosted by familiar conditions and strong crowd support and could fancy their chances to be among top-four.
The opening match against Sri Lanka begins at 3pm local time.
(with inputs from agencies)