India will look to draw confidence from recent performances and improve their disappointing bilateral record against England when the two teams face-off in a three-match women’s T20I series, starting here on Wednesday.
The Harmanpreet Kaur-led India have had a successful year in the shortest format so far, winning the gold medal in the Asian Games, an away series against Bangladesh by 2-1 and also making it to the final of the triangular series in South Africa, with West Indies as the third side.
On the other hand, world No. 2 England will look to overcome the disappointment of losing to Sri Lanka 1-2 at home.
World No. 4 India has a poor record at home in T20Is as well as against England in general and the hosts will hope to come up with something special.
At home, in nine matches against England, India have only two wins to show with their most recent victory coming more than five years ago in March 2018 when they won by eight wickets at the Brabourne Stadium.
In fact, it is India’s overall record against England which is also concerning given they only have seven wins to show from 27 matches.
Additionally, India women’s last win at home in T20Is came more than two years ago in March 2021 when they defeated South Africa in Lucknow by nine wickets. Since then, India have lost four and tied one game while playing at home.
The series also presents India an opportunity to improve their disappointing overall home record as they only have 19 wins from 50 T20Is at home with 30 losses and one tied game.
Both India and England were the semifinalists of the last T20 World Cup held in South Africa earlier this year. With the next showpiece event slated for September-October 2024, this series presents an opportunity to fine-tune their preparations for the edition in Bangladesh. While Deepti Sharma has been India’s most successful bowler with 19 wickets in 16 matches with a strike rate of 15.89, it is the batters who have done a commendable job this year in the shortest format, led by Harmanpreet, who has averaged 35.88 to make 323 runs in 13 T20Is with three fifties.
