The England women's cricket team was forced to shift its T20 World Cup preparatory camp to South Africa after it had to call off its plans to travel to Abu Dhabi due to security concerns owing to the ongoing conflict in the region, involving United States, Israel and Iran.
India women will be keen to internalise the conditions and character of venues in England ahead of next year's World Cup during the five-match T20I series against the hosts, beginning with the opening game on Saturday.
Shafali Verma smashed 176 runs at a strike rate of 158.56 during the T20I series against England to jump four spots to ninth place with 655 points.
Deepti has been inside the top 10 rankings for T20I bowlers for the majority of the last six years, but the 27-year-old has never held the top position "despite the fact she has maintained great consistency in recent times."
Sophie Ecclestone returns as England announce squad for T20Is against India
A historic maiden women's T20 series victory over England already assured, India failed to end the series on a high, losing the inconsequential fifth and final match by five wickets in a last-ball thriller, in Birmingham, on Saturday.
India's batting faltered at the death as England held their nerves to pull off a narrow five-run win in a thrilling third women's T20 International on Friday.
The inaugural edition's winner Mumbai Indians will bank on their core group of players while two-time finalists Delhi Capitals will expect fireworks from Shafali Verma when they face-off in the second game of the Women's Premier League here on Saturday. The finalists of the first WPL in 2023, both Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals made it to the knockouts in the second edition last year but lost to the eventual champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the eliminator and the final respectively. Those defeats were certainly not reflective of how well MI and DC had fared until the knockouts stage, with Harmanpreet Kaur's side finishing second in the points table with five wins in eight matches and Meg Lanning's team topping it with six wins in as many outings. The winners of WPL 2023, Mumbai Indians tend to lean on their core group of players both overseas and Indian and a similar approach can be expected this year, with only a few changes taking place in terms of squad composition. India pacer Pooja Vastrakar, who was grappling with an unspecified injury, was ruled out of the competition and has been replaced by slow left-arm orthodox bowler Parunika Sisodia, who was one of the main performers in India's title-winning campaign in the U-19 Women's T20 World Cup recently. Mumbai Indians have let go of England's Issy Wong, who took the first-ever WPL hat-trick in 2023, after the player lost form and the franchise found the leader of their attack in South Africa's Shabnim Ismail. Among domestic talents, another member of the U-19 T20 World Cup winning squad G Kamalini would be one to watch out for, having finished as the third highest scorer in the competition with 143 runs in seven matches. Apart from a strong leader in Harmanpreet, MI have strong figures from other international sides such as Nat Sciver-Brunt (England), Hayley Matthews (West Indies), Amelia Kerr (New Zealand), as well as South Africans Nadine de Klerk, Shabnim Ismail and Chloe Tryon. While Yastika Bhatia is MI's No 1 wicketkeeper-batter, other Indian players in Saika Ishaque, Sajana Sajeevan, uncapped Akshita Maheshwari and Amanjot Kaur will be expected to play their roles to perfection. On their part, Delhi Capitals will be keen to do one better after finishing as runner-up for two times in a row ever since the competition began. One of the most consistent teams in the competition, the Lanning-led Delhi have strong talent base across departments but the key will be to deliver in crucial matches. All eyes will be on the explosive Indian batter Shafali who has responded to her exclusion from the Indian side with runs in domestic cricket. She forms a lethal opening pair with Lanning at the top, while the likes of Australia's Annabel Sutherland, England's Alice Capsey and India's Jemimah Rodrigues form the core of their middle order. All-rounder Sutherland will hope to draw inspiration from her recent success of having struck 163 in the only Test of the women's Ashes followed by winning the highest individual honour in Australian cricket. While Delhi boasts of three wicketkeeper-batters in India's Taniyaa Bhatia, Nandini Kashyap and Scotland's Sarah Bryce, their bowling looks settled with Marizanne Kapp as the leader of the attack, backed by Australia's Jess Jonassen, India's Radha Yadav and Shikha Pandey as well as Titas Sadhu.
Mumbai Indians skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said on Thursday that the defending champions have been trying to keep their own expectation level to a minimum and focus on the WPL opener against Delhi Capitals.
In a thrilling finish at the DY Patil Stadium on Saturday, UP Warriorz clinched handed Mumbai Indians their first loss of the season.
Harmanpreet Kaur-led Mumbai Indians beat Delhi Capitals to be crowned champions of the inaugural edition of the Women's Premier League.
Mumbai Indians came up with a dominant performance with both bat and ball to cruise to an emphatic seven-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore.
IMAGES from the Women's Premier League game in Bengaluru between Mumbai Indians and UP Warriorz on Wednesday
Becomes first player to pick a hat-trick in the Women's Premier League.
While Mumbai Indians lay their hands on the inaugural WPL trophy, the season threw up a lot of standout performances.
India's bowlers put up a valiant effort with a below par total to defend before rookie Alice Capsey held her nerves to guide England to a seven-wicket win in the third women's T20 International.
The second edition of the Women's Premier League, beginning in Bengaluru on Friday with a high-profile match between defending champions Mumbai Indians and runners-up Delhi Capitals, will be optimistic about meeting its existential purpose of giving a wider platform to promising home-grown talents.
IMAGES from the Women's Premier League match played between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals in Navi Mumbai on Monday.
Mumbai Indians stamped their authority in the inaugural edition of the Women's Premier League as they remained unbeaten with three wins on the trot.
India's limited overs vice-captain Smriti Mandhana slammed a 39-ball 45 to power defending champions Sydney Thunder to a six-wicket win over Sydney Sixers in the Women's Big Bash league.
Mumbai Indians captain Harmanpreet Kaur feels that focussing on winning crucial moments of matches and not the ultimate prize worked for her side.
Mandhana (91 off 99 balls) literally drove and pulled her way before missing out on a deserving sixth WODI hundred by nine runs.
Images from the WPL match between Mumbai Indians vs Gujarat Giants played at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Saturday
The stage is set for the inaugural edition of the Women's Premier League, which will get underway in Mumbai on Saturday.
The ECB has been trying to convince both the BCCI and the Cricket South Africa to agree to play a tri-series later this year but nothing has been finalised as yet.
In a thrilling final, Mumbai Indians handed Delhi Capitals a seven-wicket defeat to win the inaugural edition of the Women's Premier League.
All-rounder Sneh Rana showed nerves of steel by choking runs in the death overs as the India women's cricket team pipped hosts England by four runs to enter the final of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Saturday.
Call it destiny or design, Goswami's last hurrah is taking at Lord's.
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