Leg-spinner Poonam Yadav was the lone Indian to make the ICC Women’s T20 playing XI of the World Cup, which featured teenage sensation Shafali Verma as the 12th player and was dominated by champions Australia.

Five players from Australia’s victorious team made the side of the tournament. Defending champions Australia claimed their fifth title following an 85-run triumph over first-time finalists India on Sunday in Melbourne.

Alyssa Healy, Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning, Jess Jonassen and Megan Schutt were included along with four England players.

Healy and Mooney did quite a bit of damage with the bat and the two reprised their roles as openers in the final XI.

They’re joined by fast bowler Schutt, who took four wickets in the final against India to finish as leading wicket-taker with 13, and left-arm spinner Jonassen.

There is also a spot for captain Lanning, who led Australia from the front both with the bat and in the field.

The side was pulled together by a selection panel featuring commentators and former international players Ian Bishop, Anjum Chopra and Lisa Sthalekar, journalist Raf Nicholson and ICC representative Holly Colvin, the ICC said in a statement.

Yadav had Australia in knots in a dramatic opening game of the tournament. India’s leading T20I wicket-taker took four for 19 in the opener and didn’t look back, bagging three against Bangladesh before rounding off with wickets in each match.

Verma, on the other hand, broke record after record at the top of India’s order.

The 16-year-old scored 163 runs coming at a jaw-dropping strike rate of 158.25.

Healy and Mooney broke their own record set in 2018 with the most runs as a partnership in a Women’s T20 World Cup, with 352 at an average close to 60.

They also made their second century partnership in four innings while Healy lit up Melbourne to record the quickest 50 in a Final and the highest score in the showcase.

The latter was beaten by her partner a few overs later, with Mooney’s unbeaten 78 seeing her reach 259 runs - the most for one player at any edition of the tournament.

The Australian pair are followed in the team by another stellar duo, with nobody bettering the 169-run partnership made by Nat Sciver and Heather Knight against Thailand.

The team of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 (in batting order) is:
  • Alyssa Healy (Australia, wk, 236 runs at 39.33, seven dismissals), Beth Mooney (Australia, 259 runs at 64.75), Nat Sciver (England, 202 runs at 67.33), Heather Knight (England, 193 runs at 64.33), Meg Lanning (Australia, captain, 132 runs at 44), Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa, 94 runs at strike rate of 149), Jess Jonassen (Australia, 10 wickets at 14.00), Sophie Ecclestone (England, eight wickets at 6.12), Anya Shrubsole (England, eight wickets at 10.62), Megan Schutt (Australia, 13 wickets at 10.30), Poonam Yadav (India, 10 wickets at 11.90), 12th: Shafali Verma (India, 163 runs at strike rate of 158.25).

The middle-order batters were in inspired form throughout, Knight becoming the first England cricketer to register centuries in all three formats with her ton against the debutants.

Sciver scored half-centuries in three of England’s four completed matches to end her tournament with 202 runs and two wickets.

South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt only batted in two innings but certainly made her mark on the action. The 20-year-old struck 53 not out to take South Africa beyond Pakistan, with a glorious array of straight and cover drives lighting up the Sydney Showground.

Published on March 9, 2020