India women eye T20 World Cup with focus on consistency and dominance

Mandhana says team in transition aims sustained success after historic ODI title and breakthrough series win over Australia

February 23, 2026, dmanewsdesk: Consistency and dominance are the targets that are driving the current India Women’s team.

Crowned champions of the Women’s ODI World Cup last year, the Indian team is now eyeing glory in the T20 World Cup, to be held later this year.

“This Indian team is something which we have spoken about… trying to be consistent. Don’t think about opposition or what’s happened in the past. So we’ve beaten this, we’ve beaten that. I feel that’s not very important now,” vice-captain Smriti Mandhana said on BCCI.tv.

The team has begun the year with a T20 series win against Australia, their first series triumph over the formidable rivals in a decade.

Mandhana believes it’s a team in transition, with the sole objective being consistent cricket.

“I think we are on the verge of a transition where we want to dominate world cricket. And whoever we beat, wherever we beat, that doesn’t matter. We just want to be consistent in beating them and being at the top,” Mandhana said.

In the series-deciding third T20I, Mandhana played a match-setting 82 and, alongside Jemimah Rodrigues, who contributed 59, forged a 121-run partnership that
propelled India to 176/6 before the bowlers stifled Australia for 159/9.

“I mean, I really loved Adelaide as a city, even before playing here. And yeah, it’s just very peaceful, nice. I mean, a few Aussies will be very happy when I say that it’s the best city in Australia, and actually, I find it the best city in Australia.”

The women’s T20 World Cup is slated to be held in England and Wales from June 12 to July 5. “This year is a T20 year. Last year was a one-day year where we played a lot of one-day cricket.

“So coming into this year, for sure, I feel like we are a well-settled ODI squad, but we are still working on our T20 game and also what’s our best XI and what’s our best 15 in terms of T20s. For sure, WPL has played a huge role for us to get better at T20s,” she observed.

Source: The Telegraph online