A tale of near-misses! India's journey of heartbreaks and hope in Women's T20 World Cups
India are in the hunt for their maiden senior women's title after showing promise of being one of the strongest contenders for a World Cup title. With the Women's T20 World Cup scheduled to take place next month in UAE, here's India's journey in all editions of the tournament.
The Women's T20 World Cup 2024 is not far from now. The tournament, which was scheduled to take place in Bangladesh, was shifted to UAE due to the political unrest in Bangladesh. Serial winners Australia come into this tournament, looking to defend their title it for the seventh time. However, India, who have come ever so close to the world title, will be looking to bag their maiden senior women's ICC title.
The Indian women's team has had many near-misses in the tournament's history. The Women in Blue's best finish came in 2020 when they lost the final to the Aussies. Here's India's journey in the tournament.
Semifinal entries in the first two editions
In the first two semifinals, the Indian women's team made an early mark. The team, led by Jhulan Goswami, featured other giants such as Mithali Raj, Anjum Chopra and a young Harmanpreet Kaur. But they lost to New Zealand in their semifinal as the World Glory dream ended.
In the next one, the Indian team finished second in their group again but lost to the eventual champions Australia this time.
The poor run of first-round exits
In the next three editions of the tournament - in 2012, 2014 and 2016 - the Women in Blue hit a new low. India were drawn in a tough group featuring former champions England and defending Australia alongside Pakistan in 2012. The Mithali Raj-led team could not win a single game in the group stage, suffering a humiliating group-stage exit.
The next edition was not much different with the team winning two of their four group games and making an early exit. In the 2016 edition of the tournament, the Women in Blue failed to meet the expectations yet again, registering a solitary win in their group.
A late run of semifinals and final
India worked on themselves for the World Cups and looked to be at their best in the next editions. Harmanpreet Kaur was made the captain for the first time in the 20-over World Cup in 2018 and she took India to the semifinals yet again in 2018. The Indian team topped the Group, defeating nemesis Australia but lost in the semifinal to England, against whom they lost the ODI World Cup final a year before.
In 2020, India were in the finals, after the abandoned semifinal against the English team put them in the finals against Australia. But the mighty Aussies came in India's way, as they bowled the Kaur-led team for only 99 and won the title by 85 runs.
Then came the 2023 World Cup in South Africa. India finished second in their group, losing to only England but then the Aussie curse came again. In a closely-fought semifinal between India and Australia, the defending champion yet again got the better of the Women in Blue by five runs.
The journey has been filled with heartbreaks but also hope of new faces standing up and showing glimpses of a team that could win a title. But the losing run has to turn and India would be hoping it does turn this time around.