ICC Women's T20 World Cup: Players to watch out for in India vs England semi-final on March 5

India are set to clash with England in the first semi-finals of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup on Thursday (March 5).

In previous ICC tournaments, England have a clean record against India, registering win in both 2017 50-over final and the 2018 Women’s T20 World Cup semi-final - but this Indian side will not be easy to beat as the players are in superb form and India is the only side to win all their group matches. 

It is expected that the match will be an exciting affair and there will be few players from both the sides who will decide the outcome of the match:

Shafali Verma v Anya Shrubsole 

England will be fully aware of the fact that they will have to remove Shafali Verma for their strongest chance of beating India on Thursday.

Teenager Shafali Verma is famous for her fearless brand of batting and is now the top-ranked batswoman in the MRF Tyres ICC Women’s T20I Player Rankings.

Verma, 16, is India’s highest run-scorer in the competition with 161 and a good start from her will play an important role in deciding the result of the match.

While England has more than one talented bowlers in their squad, they will be hoping their most experienced bowler Anya Shrubsole to tame Verma. 

Shrubsole is the second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament so far and India is well aware of her ability to take wickets at crucial junctures.

Harmanpreet Kaur v Sophie Ecclestone 

While England will be focused on stopping Varma from giving a good start to India, England will also have to keep India Captain Harmanpreet Kaur under check. Though Kaur has  struggled with spin in Australia, she is a talented batswoman and can raise the bar in the all-important match.

England spinner Sophie Ecclestone will be the biggest threat for Kaur and the 20-year-old England spinner will definitely try all the tricks to remove Kaur early.

Nat Sciver v Poonam Yadav

Nat Sciver has been playing superbly in the prestigious tournament as the 27-year-old all-rounder has scored three half-centuries so far to steer England to the knockout stages. 

But Sciver must be wary of Poonam Yadav who has a unique ability to dismantle the greats. Yadav finished as the highest wicket-taker of the pool stages with nine wickets and the battle between Sciver and Yadav is going to be exciting on Thursday.