Beginning March 15, the ICC Women’s World T20 2016 will be played across various cities in India. The competition will be contested by ten teams and will run concurrent to the men’s tournament. The total prize money for the Women’s event has been pegged at $400,000, which according to a release from the ICC is said to be a 122 percent increase from the prize money at the previous edition in Bangladesh.
Hosts India will feature in the opening game of the competition when they take on Bangladesh (who finished 9th out of 10 teams in the 2014 Women’s World T20) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The ten teams competing in the tournament have been divided into two groups, and the Indian Women’s team is part of Group B which also contains inaugural Women’s World T20 champions England.
The Mithali Raj-led Indian team have been in scintillating form so far this year; at the start of this year they won a T20 series in Australia and followed that up with a whitewash of Sri Lanka in a T20 series at home. The Indian women’s team have begun this competition on the right note too, after they defeated Ireland and Sri Lanka by convincing margins in the pre-tournament warm-up matches. This augurs well for the hosts who will look to better their performances in the 2009 and 2010 editions when they qualified for the semi-finals.
The Australian Women’s team – the top-ranked side in the ICC Women’s rankings - are the defending Women’s World T20 champions. The Southern Stars as they are referred to back home, the Australian Women’s team is aiming for their fourth World T20 title after they won the competition thrice in a row in 2010, 2012 and 2014.
The Australian women’s team will be captained by Meg Lanning, who is the top-ranked batter in the ICC Rankings for Women’s T20s. Lanning’s side are drawn in Group A and will compete against Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa & Sri Lanka in the league stage of the competition.
The Southern Stars, along with the Charlotte Edwards-led England Women, Suzie Bates-led New Zealand Women (also called White Ferns) and the Indian Women’s team are considered favourites to make it to the last-four stage.
The White Ferns, much like the reputation the New Zealand men’s cricket team carries in world events, have been consistent performers in making it to the knockouts but have not yet had the opportunity to take home the title. The New Zealand Women’s cricket team finished runner-up in the 2009 and 2010 editions of the Women’s World T20 and made it to the semi-finals of the 2012 edition too. They failed to qualify for the knockouts of the 2014 edition of the tournament, but Suzie Bates’ team, who have been playing some very good cricket in the last twelve months, will be keen to go the distance and take home the coveted trophy.
For the Sana Mir-led Pakistan Women’s team, the Mignon du Preez-led South African Women’s team and the Isobel Joyce-led Ireland Women’s team, the 2016 Women’s World T20 presents the opportunity of not only competing on a world stage but also a chance of experiencing and soaking in all that India has to offer in terms of varying conditions, culture, cuisine and warmth of people around the country.