India's wait to win any major ICC event continued even in 2023 despite playing their best ever cricket at the Men's World Cup. But they endured one bad day in the final against Australia and the dream was shattered. Team India also competed in the T20 World Cup in Women's cricket but the Harmanpeet Kaur-led side couldn't go beyond the semifinals, also losing to Australia.
Having said that, at the U19 level, team India has been dominating over the years having won the trophy a massive five times with the latest one coming in 2022. Interestingly, not many remember that India won the inaugural U19 Women's T20 World Cup in 2023 under Shafali Verma's captaincy as they beat England in the final. Nevertheless, India will get three more chances to add trophies to their cabinet in 2024. Let us have a look:
U19 World Cup in South Africa
India colts will be defending their title at the U19 World Cup starting from January 19 in South Africa. The tournament was earlier slated to happen in Sri Lanka but was later moved to the rainbow nation. Uday Saharan has been named the captain of the team even as the side couldn't make it to the final of the U19 Asia Cup that happened last month. India lost to Bangladesh in the semifinal. However, the boys in blue will be keen on defending the title. India is in group A alongside Bangladesh, Ireland and the USA and will play their first game on January 20.
Squad: Arshin Kulkarni, Adarsh Singh, Rudra Mayur Patel, Sachin Dhas, Priyanshu Moliya, Musheer Khan, Uday Saharan (c), Aravelly Avanish Rao (WK), Saumy Kumar Pandey (VC), Murugan Abhishek, Innesh Mahajan (wk), Dhanush Gowda, Aaradhya Shukla, Raj Limbani and Naman Tiwari
Men's T20 World Cup 2024 in West Indies and USA
The senior men's team of India will once again be in focus in June this year when the T20 World Cup is scheduled. It is still not entirely clear if the senior players Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will play the mega event. But the latter hinted at targeting the 'next ultimate prize' recently. However, the build up to the tournament is not ideal for the team as they have only three T20Is left before the World Cup (against Afghanistan at home this month). Players will feature in the Indian Premier League (IPL) before the mega event, and the squad is likely to be picked on the basis of performances in the cash-rich league.
Women's T20 World Cup 2024 in Bangladesh
The senior Women's team of India will also have a chance to win their maiden World Cup trophy in white-ball cricket this year. The mega event in the shortest format is scheduled to take place in September-October and the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side is building up towards the competition. The Women in Blue, over the last few years, have constantly made it to the semis of the World Cup but have not been able to cross the hurdle. They had qualified for the final in 2020 T20 World Cup but lost to Australia in the summit clash. It remains to be seen if they will be able to create history this year.
India has constantly done well at the U19 level but the success has not translated to trophy at the senior across all the formats. Will India, Men or Women, will be able to end the 11-year ICC trophy drought at the international level? Only time will tell...
