3 reasons why India can defeat England in their T20 World Cup clash

India will take on England in a crucial Group B clash of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023 at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth on Saturday, February 18. This is easily the biggest game of the tournament for both sides, who have won their two opening encounters.

While England comfortably trounced the West Indies and Ireland, India registered a slightly hard-fought win against Pakistan before beating the Windies rather comfortably. With batters and bowlers from both these sides in form and raring to go, the winner of the game should receive a huge confidence boost going into the business end of the tournament.

On that note, let's look at three reasons why India can win this all-important clash against England.

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#3 England's batting collapse against Ireland

England had a mini-batting collapse after Alice Capsey's breezy half-century against Ireland.

Alice Capsey's blitzkrieg half-century saw England heading to a comfortable win by chasing a low target against Ireland. However, her dismissal triggered a batting collapse that saw them lose six wickets in a chase of 106 runs.

While we can attribute that to some poor shot selection in a zealous attempt to finish the game off quickly, the manner of dismissals and their struggle against the Irish spinners bodes well for the Indian bowlers.

While you would expect England to bat more solidly in a crunch game against India, this batting performance of theirs shows that there are chinks in their armor that Indian bowlers can target.

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#2 Indian batters could prove to be a real test for the England bowlers

Up until now, the quality of batting the England bowlers have gone up against hasn't been the best. Granted, they have one of the best bowling attacks in the world, with Sophie Ecclestone easily the best spinner right now.

However, neither Ireland nor West Indies performed to their best and while the England bowlers were certainly on point, the gulf in batting quality between the two sides and this Indian team is quite noticeable.

With most of the Indian top order showing some semblance of form in the first two games, England could be in for a rude awakening against the Indian batters, and it'll be interesting to see how their bowlers handle this test.

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#1 Winning Momentum

Winning breeds confidence and by registering solid performances in their first two matches, India appear to be a side that believes in themselves ahead of this game. They've also had different players step up and deliver the goods in these two opening games, with Jemimah Rodrigues, Radha Yadav, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, and Richa Ghosh all looking in good touch.

England are by far the toughest opponent India will have to face in the group stage and a win over them will give them plenty of confidence ahead of the semi-finals. With a lot of wind behind their sails, Harmanpreet Kaur and Co. will be looking forward to this clash.