Veteran cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra has shared that Team India’s chances of winning the Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 could rely on how they play in the Powerplay overs. He also shared that Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma could control the game with the bat, noting that Mandhana has an excellent record in England. The Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 will be played in England from Friday, June 12, onwards, with India beginning their tournament against Pakistan on Sunday, June 14.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “The Indian girls have won the 50-over World Cup. Can they win the 20-over World Cup? That’s the big question. It’s a good team. Where do you win T20 games? One is if you control the Powerplay with the bat and with the ball. With the bat, Shafali Varma’s consistent avatar is very, very good.”
“Smriti Mandhana will be there with her. Smriti Mandhana in England is another beast altogether. She has scored a lot of runs there. So, Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma, as your Powerplay players, can actually control the game. One of them should bat deep into the innings, which they can,” he further added.
“Then followed by Yastika Bhatia, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur, and Richa Ghosh. The last five overs’ responsibility will be on Richa Ghosh and Harmanpreet Kaur. You will expect Deepti Sharma to continue playing as attackingly as she has started doing in the WPL. It seems like we are actually quite set in batting. We are as good as any other World Cup team in batting,” he added.
In the same video, Aakash Chopra also stated that the focus will be on Renuka Singh Thakur, especially considering the seamer-friendly English conditions, along with Arundhati Reddy, and Kranti Gaud as well.
“In bowling, again, the Powerplay overs, whether it’s Renuka Singh Thakur, Arundhati Reddy, or Kranti Gaud, the focus will be on them. Even if Nandani Sharma plays, she will have a bigger role in the death overs. Since it’s England and it would swing, Renuka Singh Thakur’s value increases,” he said.
“Death overs, that will be the big challenge, because we get our spinners to bowl the death overs many times. How we bowl in the death overs might actually define. We might end the Powerplay on equal terms, but can we grab them with spin in the middle overs, and whether we can bowl well in the death overs, I think that will be the defining part,” Chopra concluded.
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