The defending champions, Australia, have claimed tournament victory in the last three editions, and six times across the eight editions.

Will the Australian Woman Team be even challenged in the 2024 Cricket World Cup?

The ninth edition of the much-awaited ICC Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup is just months away and is scheduled to be played across two venues in the UAE.

Originally scheduled to be played in Bangladesh, the venue was changed to the UAE due to the political unrest in Bangladesh.

This time only 10 teams will battle in the 23 matches tournament

The Groups

Group A: Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka

Group B: Bangladesh, England, Scotland, South Africa, West Indies

The Dominating Australian Team

Australian Women’s team will always remain the clear favorites at any ICC tournament in any format.

The Aussie girls have dominated women cricket for over a decade.

It comes as a surprise and a shock if the Australian team is not featured in any ICC Tournament Final.

T20 format could be a format where other teams can still give some challenge to the powerful Australian Team.

A good day on the field can make all the difference in a T20 Format.

However, there are a few key factors that can contribute to increasing the chances

• A team must have skilled players with batters who can score at a quick clip against the quality Australian bowling.

• While defending, the bowling team should be always on the lookout for quick wickets against the Aussies which is the only way to keep the run rate down against an aggressive batting lineup.

• Countering Australia’s strengths is key. Team should stick to their strength instead of trying to compete with how the Australian plays their form of cricket.

• The demeanour of the Australian team completely demoralises their opposition and this now becomes more of a mental game. A mentally tough team can only ruffle the feathers of a strong Australian team. To beat them, a team must be mentally strong, resilient, and capable of handling pressure situations effectively.

• How consistently the opposition plays on the day will be crucial as Australians are known to throttle their opposition when they find a loophole in the opposition team.

The key to beating Australia’s women’s cricket team is to focus on strong batting, tight bowling, and solid fielding. It’s also important to stay mentally tough and adapt to their strategies during the game.

Which teams can challenge the Australian Women’s Team?

England

The best team after Australia, are in good form in recent times and unlike other team have beaten Australia on more than one occasion recently.

With an extremely positive and aggressive batting line up, England has the potential to bat their opposition out of the contest.

The success of the men’s team has rubbed on the Woman’s team and they too play an aggressive style of cricket.

In the bowling department, England has one of the best spin bowling squads in the tournament with world no1 Sophia Ecclestone and World No 2 Sara Glenn both playing in the eleven.

Even the pace bowling squad is balanced.

While England do have a team to compete in UAE conditions, Bangladesh conditions would have suited their spin bowlers

Player to Watch: Nat Sciver -Brunt

Win Probability 

England has a 75% chance to win the tournament

South Africa

The previous edition runners-up almost had their hands on the silverware with some impressive showing in the tournament.

South African women’s team is one of the most consistent teams in the women’s game but their recent International showings have not been very impressive.

They still are a strong team under captain Sune Luus and their biggest match winner Marizanne Kapp.

While the 9^th edition of the World Cup is scheduled to be in UAE, they may have a bowler short in the spin department. The pace attack is probably one of the best in the tournament.

Player to Watch: Marizanne Kapp

Win Probability 

South Africa has a 65% chance to win the tournament

India                

India in recent times have been one of the teams challenging Australia in all formats. They however have not been able to cross the final hurdle having been to the finals in 2020 losing to the eventual winners Australia.

India has a world-class top-order batting lineup but has a weak middle and lower-order batting lineup which may prove crucial in tight games.

While the Indian team has an extremely potent spin bowling department, they have lost their edge in the pace bowling department after the retirement of Julan Goswami.

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It comes as a surprise that Harmanpreet Kaur continuing to captain the Indian team even with no major result to show against big team will prove a factor against Australia. As a player, the captain needs to step up her game and become more consistent.

This could be the last chance for Harmanpreet to captain the National side if India fails to cross the line.

Player to Watch: Smriti Mandhana

Win Probability 

India has a 60% chance to win the tournament

Sri Lanka

While the girls from the small island nation can surprise a few teams in the tournaments, their recent form has made them Giant killers by winning the finals of the Asia Cup beating tournament favorites India.

The only disadvantage this team has is a weak batting order with an over reliance on their openers. If UAE pitches have spin in it then the Sri Lanka spinners may take full advantage of the condition.

Player to Watch: Chamari Athapaththu

Win Probability 

Sri Lanka has a 40% chance to win the tournament

Format of the Tournament

The 10 teams are split into two groups of five, with teams meeting each other once in a single round-robin to decide the top two teams to progress to the semi-finals.

The top-spot finisher in the group will meet the second-place finisher in the two semi-finals, with the winners progressing to the final in Dubai.

T20 World Cup Winners

Schedule and Fixtures of the tournament

Tournament fixtures