MANCHESTER:Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian women’s cricket team will play their fourth game of the T20 World Cup 2026 against Bangladesh at the Old Trafford in Manchester on Thursday, with an eye on strengthening their chances for the semifinals, which got complicated after their loss against South Africa on June 21.
Riding on confidence after their maiden ODI World Cup victory last year, the Women in Blue entered the tournament with a lot of expectations. The team also started the tournament with a 64-run win against arch-rivals Pakistan and then registered a huge 95-run victory against the Netherlands.
However, they lost to South Africa by six wickets in their third league game. The Proteas were given a target of 159, which they managed to chase easily by six wickets in 19.1 overs. The star for South Africa was Marizanne Kapp, who picked two wickets for 27 runs in four overs and also scored a blistering 45-ball 81-run knock that included seven fours and four sixes.
This loss made India’s chance to qualify for the semis complicated and they certainly need to register a victory against Bangladesh and the Mighty Australians in their last two league games. The Indian team has four points in three games, with a net run rate of +2.511.
How can India still qualify for the semifinals?
India need to win their games against Bangladesh (June 25) and Australia (June 28). However, even this will not seal their spot in the semis, and the Women in Blue would need South Africa and Australia to lose one of their remaining matches. Losing any of the remaining games will make India’s chances difficult.
If India win against Bangladesh and Australia, and South Africa win all the remaining two games and Australia defeat Pakistan, then all these three teams will have eight points each and it will all come down to the net run rate. As of now, the Women in Blue have a better net run rate than South Africa (-0.546).
India Full Squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Bharti Fulmali, Richa Ghosh (wk), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Prema Rawat, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh Thakur, Radha Yadav, Nandini Sharma and Shree Charani.
