Australia great Meg Lanning rated India as one of the strongest title contenders of the upcoming ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, starting September 30. While Lanning admitted she would love to see seven-time champions Australia lift the trophy again, the former skipper also pointed out that the hosts could be a significant challenge to every team in the upcoming edition.
“I know Australia has dominated a lot of it, but it’s certainly not a foregone conclusion,” Lanning told ICC Digital.
“I’d still love Australia to win, obviously, but I think India are the main competitors. I think India are a significant challenge to everybody. Talent-wise, they’re as good as anyone and I think they are really starting to understand how to win, which probably has been something for them to work on, and I think they’re doing that really nicely.”
Lanning led Australia during the 2017 World Cup semi-final, where India upset her side before narrowly missing out on their maiden title in the final against England at Lord’s.
With five World Cup trophies as captain, including four ICC Women’s T20 titles and the 2022 ODI crown, Lanning carries a rare perspective on delivering under pressure in major tournaments.
“They (India) are well led by Harmanpreet Kaur, and there are really good players who have got some good experience now. So I expect them to do well,” she said. “And if they put it together and play well, I don’t think anyone can actually get close to them. They are very good.”
Beyond India, Lanning noted other challengers capable of springing surprises.
“So you’ve got England, who are always strong. South Africa … who have done pretty well at recent World Cups, they seem to be able to get it together when it’s important. And then, you can never write off New Zealand too. They showed in that T20 World Cup (2024) recently that if you time your run really nicely, then you never know what can happen. So that’s the beauty of the game – there’s some really good competitive sides out there,” she said.
Defending champions Australia will open their campaign against New Zealand on October 1 in Indore, while hosts India take on Sri Lanka in the tournament’s curtain-raiser on September 30 in Guwahati.