‘India’s chances in T20 WC will be largely dependent on top-order’

New Delhi: Former skipper Mithali Raj feels India’s chances of winning the Women’s T20 World Cup will depend largely on the top order’s form.

The legendary batter added that the Indian bowlers will have to show a marked improvement in testing conditions at the marquee event beginning on Friday in South Africa.

“India’s chances will be largely dependent on the top order. Smriti Mandhana is playing well and is a match winner,” Mithali wrote in her column for the ICC.

“Harmanpreet Kaur has looked in good form too but we have to beat Australia and England you need others batters to come to the party.”

The Indian team, which takes on Pakistan in their tournament opener on February 12 in Cape Town, have been playing in South Africa.

The Indian team, which recently finished runners up in a Tri series against hosts South Africa and West Indies, will be fielding a relatively inexperienced pace unit barring veteran Shikha Pandey.

“The bowling will be tested and that is where we need to see an improvement,” Mithali added. The 40-year-old hopes the U19 World Cup-winning duo of Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh make use of the knowledge that they have gained while playing the age group tournament on these conditions.

“I hope Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh also have a good run at the World Cup considering they have gained so much experience of the conditions in South Africa.

“I am excited about some of the young players coming through and there is definitely some talent in the Under-19s team which I had the chance to see play at the inaugural ICC Under-19s Women’s T20 World Cup.” Mithali opined defending champions Australia’s excellent batting department make them favourites to win the event for an unprecedented sixth time.

“I think everyone would agree that Australia are the favourites, and deservedly so.

I am expecting, tight, competitive matches.They are so difficult to beat because they bat deep and have an excellent batting line-up.

“There are not many teams who can rival them in terms of big hitters, and the fact they have numerous players

who can play a similar role means that if one fails, others can step in. However, Mithali feels India have a knack of producing their best against

Australia.

“We saw recently that when they toured India although that was a very competitive series but when it came down to it, more often than not, it was Australia who came out on top.

“While Australia are definitely favourites, we have seen India and England play some of their best cricket in the knockout stages of tournaments so I would not write them

off.