India should be able to beat the Netherlands but they must also win against either of Australia or South Africa in the group stage to qualify for the semifinals
Published: June 17, 2026, 3:47 PM IST
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India Women’s Smriti Mandhana celebrates a wicket with teammates during the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 Group A match between India Women and Pakistan Women, at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Sunday, June 14, 2026. (Photo: IANS/X/@BCCIWomen)
Harmanpreet Kaur’s team India will be locking horns with the Netherlands in their second Group A match of the on-going ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026. The Women in Blue are coming on the back of an one-sided victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in their opener last Sunday at Edgbaston. Chasing their first-ever T20 World Cup trophy, the Indians started off in the best way possible as the produced a terrific all-round performance to register a massive 64-run victory.
After Smriti Mandhana’s welcome half-century in the 1st innings along with Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh’s crucial 30+ knocks which helped India post 170, all-rounder Deepti Sharma made life difficult for the Pakistani batters in the 2nd innings, registering figures of 5/10 in her 4 overs to be rightfully adjudged as player of the match.
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However, there are still some improvements to be made. While Smriti Mandhana and Richa Ghosh saved the day for India against Pakistan, the rest of the batting line-up, including opener Shafali Verma (6 off 5) and Harmanpreet Kaur (36 off 35), could not come make any impact.
Bharti Fulmali is expected to play a crucial role in the middle-order but she, too, had a forgettable debut in the Women’s T20 World Cup. More consistency is needed from the Indian batters for the tougher battles ahead in the league stage.
India should be able to beat the Netherlands but they must also win against either of Australia or South Africa in the group stage to qualify for the semifinals.
Fielding improvements are also required after India’s efforts remained below par, despite some good catches being taken later in the innings.
In the bowling department, Arundhati Reddy and Kranti Gaud failed to create an impact and they would be looking for early breakthroughs at Headingley. The spin duo of Deepti Sharma and Shree Charani were the stand out performers as they shared 8 wickets between them with the former scalping a 5-wicket haul.
It was important for Deepti to get back into form after going for plenty of runs in the series leading up to the T20 World Cup.
India’s opponents – European minnows Netherlands will have to be incredibly clinical if they are to challenge Harmanpreet Kaur’s side. The Dutch lost their Group A opener against Bangladesh and have major scopes for improvement.
Netherlands: Babette de Leede (C), Caroline de Lange, Frédérique Overdijk, Hannah Landheer, Heather Siegers, Iris Zwilling, Isabel van der Woning, Lara Leemhuis, Myrthe van den Raad, Phebe Molkenboer, Robine Rijke, Rosalie Lawrence, Sanya Khurana, Silver Siegers, Sterre Kalis.
India: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Bharti Fulmali, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Shree Charani, Yastika Bhatia, Nandani Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, Kranti Gaud, Shreyanka Patil, Radha Yadav.
