The Indian cricket team will open its ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 campaign with a Group A fixture against New Zealand at the Dubai International Stadium, UAE on Friday.

The Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 matches will be live streamed and telecast in India.

Despite making the semi-finals four times and the final once in their eight appearances in the competition so far, India are yet to win the Women’s T20 World Cup.

The closest they came was in 2020 but a loss to hosts Australia in the final ended their bid. India made the semi-finals at the previous edition held last year but were undone again by the Aussies.

Eyeing to go all the way this year, Harmanpreet Kaur and Co. find themselves in a challenging Group A with record six-time champions Australia, arch-rivals Pakistan, former finalists New Zealand and a tricky Sri Lankan side.

South Africa, England, West Indies, Bangladesh and Scotland make up Group B of the 10-team tournament.

The teams in the two groups will play each other once in the group stage, following which the top two from each group will advance to the semi-finals scheduled on October 17 and 18. The final will be hosted at the Dubai International Stadium on October 20.

Following their opening engagements against New Zealand on Friday, the Indian women play rivals Pakistan on October 6. With the Sri Lanka game scheduled on October 9, India’s final group game against Australia on the 13th could turn out to be a crunch fixture.

At world No. 3, India are the second-best ranked team in the group after world leaders Australia. New Zealand are fourth while Sri Lanka and Pakistan are seventh and eighth, respectively, in the ICC Women’s T20 rankings.

Furthermore, the Indian women’s cricket team can take heart from their performance in the two warm up games preceding the global showpiece. They beat 2016 champions West Indies and last year’s runner ups South Africa comfortably.

Captain Harmanpreet Kaur will lead a 15-member Indian squad in the ninth edition of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. The likes of Smriti Mandhana, Renuka Thakur and Shafali Verma are also in the team.

Where to watch Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 live in India

The Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 cricket matches will be live streamed on Disney+ Hotstar in India. Live telecast of the Women’s T20 World Cup cricket matches will be available on Star Sports Network TV channels in India.