Shreyanka Patil & Yastika Bhatia under injury cloud as India announce squad for 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup

The BCCI has unveiled India's squad for the upcoming women's T20 World Cup 2024, set to begin in the UAE on October 3. Harmanpreet Kaur will captain the 15-player squad, with the BCCI also including five reserves — three travelling and a couple non-travelling.

Raghvi Bist and Priya Mishra are the non-travelling reserves, while Uma Chetry, Tanuja Kanwer, and Saima Thakor are the travelling ones. Additionally, keeper-batter Yastika Bhatia and all-rounder Shreyanka Patil have been included subject to fitness clearance. Bhatia is currently understood to be at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) undergoing rehabilitation for a ligament injury in her left knee.

She last featured in a T20I against Bangladesh in April with India struggling to find a stable candidate at No.3. Meanwhile, Patil suffered a finger injury during the high-profile fixture against Pakistan in Asia Cup 2024 and found herself out of the tournament. However, ESPN Cricinfo reported earlier this month that the 22-year-old is likely to make a full recovery.

India squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Yastika Bhatia (wk)*, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh Thakur, Dayalan Hemalatha, Asha Sobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil*, Sajana Sajeevan.

Travelling Reserves: Uma Chetry (wk), Tanuja Kanwer, Saima Thakor

Non-Travelling Reserves: Raghvi Bist, Priya Mishra

India to open their campaign against New Zealand in Dubai

With the ICC releasing the revised schedule of the multi-nation event on Monday, August 26, the Women in Blue will open their campaign against New Zealand on October 4 in Dubai. They will lock horns with arch-rivals Pakistan on October 6 followed by Sri Lanka on October 9 (both in Dubai) and defending champions Australia on October 13 in Sharjah.

The Indians have two warm-up matches lined up against West Indies and South Africa on September 29 and October 1, respectively. Their best performance in T20 World Cups has been a final appearance in the 2020 edition where they lost to Australia.