New Delhi. The Indian women’s cricket team is currently standing at a very critical juncture in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 being played in England. After a crushing defeat against South Africa in their last match of the tournament, every match has now become ‘do or die’ for the Harmanpreet Kaur-led Team India. In this series, the Indian team management has taken a big and bold step in this must-win match being played against Bangladesh in Manchester. The team has surprised everyone by making two major changes in its playing eleven. Taking a lesson from the defeat against South Africa, the Indian think tank has shown the way out of the playing eleven to fast bowler Arundhati Reddy and leg spinner Prema Rawat. In their place, new ball specialist fast bowler Renuka Singh Thakur and experienced spin all-rounder Radha Yadav have returned to the team.
Actually, the script of these big changes had been written in the last match itself. On a difficult and slow pitch at Old Trafford, the Indian batsmen displayed fighting spirit and posted a challenging score of 158/7. This score was considered a safe and match-winning total in T20 cricket, but South Africa’s star player Marizanne Cap had different intentions. Cap first took two big wickets in bowling and then created history in batting by playing an explosive inning of 81 not out. On the basis of his historic innings, South Africa achieved the target by losing 6 wickets in the last over. This defeat made India’s path to the semi-finals difficult and raised big questions on the team’s bowling attack.
The Indian team made two major changes in the playing eleven against Bangladesh.
Performance of players who are out
In this big tournament, the team management cannot give long time to any player to return to form. This is the reason why Arundhati Reddy and Prema Rawat had to drop. Arundhati is considered a very versatile and naturally suited player for the T20 format. However, in the first two matches of this World Cup (against Pakistan and South Africa), she proved to be completely ineffective and failed to take even a single wicket. Prema was included for this tournament as a late replacement for the injured Shreyanka Patil. She got a chance against South Africa, but she completely failed to impress with her bowling, after which she had to leave the team.
Radha and Renuka’s ordeal
Interestingly, Radha Yadav came into limelight in the match against South Africa for a negative reason. When the match was tilting in favor of India, Radha took a very easy and decisive catch of Marijan Cap in the deep, which ultimately became the main reason for India’s defeat. Despite this, the team management has expressed confidence in him. Radha is currently considered one of the best fielders in the country, so the team hopes that she will forget this mistake and get back her old rhythm. Radha will not only have to bowl economically in the middle overs, but will also have to contribute with the bat in the lower order.
On the other hand, the team has the same old expectations from Renuka Singh Thakur for which she is known for taking wickets with her swing in the powerplay. If Renuka destroys the Bangladeshi top-order in her first spell, then Bangladesh team will be left far behind in the match. However, the truth is also that the recent form of these two returning players has not been anything special. But if India has to go ahead in this World Cup, then both of them will have to give their best performance today.
Bangladesh won the toss, India bowled first
In this very important match being played in Manchester, Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana has won the toss and decided to bat first and has invited the Indian team to bowl. The Indian team will now have to restrict Bangladesh to a small score so that the net run rate can also be improved.
India’s playing XI against Bangladesh
Smriti Mandhana, Shefali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Richa Ghosh (wicketkeeper), Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Shree Charani, Renuka Singh Thakur, Nandini Sharma.
