Women's T20 World Cup, IND-W Vs NZ-W: India Invited To Bowl Vs New Zealand; Check Out The Playing XIs

India Women will bowl first vs New Zealand [Source: @Better_thn__you/X]

In a significant development, New Zealand Women have won the toss and opted to bat first in their first game of the ongoing T20 World Cup in the UAE. This match also marks India Women's maiden appearance in the showpiece event. 

During the toss, New Zealand Women's captain Sophie Devine reckoned that the pitch would become slower and assist the bowlers in the second half, justifying the White Ferns' decision to bat first in Dubai. 

"We would like to bat first tonight, its a fresh surface and want to have a crack on it tonight. Yeah we are pretty happy with the preparation and looking forward to the first game. We saw the previous game, its probably on the slower side, despite South Africa chasing it down with 10 wickets, we want to pick wickets at regular intervals tonight," Devine stated. 

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Harmanpreet Kaur Highlights India's Fearless Approach

Meanwhile, India Women's skipper Harmanpreet Kaur revealed that they would've batted first as well, keeping the dryness of the surface in mind. She emphasised playing an aggressive brand of cricket in order to get a winning start to the tournament. 

"We would have batted first as well to put runs on the board. We want to go out there and play good cricket. I think all the players are fearless. They always want to take the aggressive option. I like that and that's the reason I say this is our best team in a T20 World Cup," Harmanpreet said. 

"We have a balanced side. We have good bowling options and spinners as well. Batting wise also, we have a long batting line-up. We just want to enjoy our time in the middle," she added. 

IND-W Vs NZ-W: Playing XIs

India Women: Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Richa Ghosh (wk), Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Asha Shobana, Renuka Singh Thakur

New Zealand Women: Suzie Bates, Georgia Plimmer, Amelia Kerr, Sophie Devine (c), Brooke Halliday, Maddy Green, Isabella Gaze (wk), Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Lea Tahuhu, Eden Carson

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