Big setback to New Zealand before T20 World Cup, captain took a big decision

The Women's T20 World Cup 2024 is to be held in the UAE from October 3. In this tournament, the New Zealand team will start its campaign against India on October 4. Earlier, the team suffered a major setback. The team's experienced captain and all-rounder Sophie Devine has made a big decision. She has announced to step down from captaincy after the tournament. After the T20 World Cup 2024, she will not captain New Zealand in T20 matches. Sophie has taken this important decision to reduce the workload. She wants to focus on her game and also prepare new leaders for the team. She has said that she will continue to captain in ODIs.

New Zealand women's cricket team captain Sophie Devine has currently captained New Zealand in 56 T20 matches. During this, she won 25 matches and lost 28, while one match was tied. Sophie was first made the stand-in captain in 2014-15. After this, the responsibility was handed over completely in 2020. However, after captaining for 4 years, she will no longer captain in this format. The New Zealand Cricket Board has not yet taken any decision regarding the new captain.

Devine made her debut in 2006. Since then she has played 135 T20 International matches, scoring 3268 runs. She is the second-highest run-scorer for New Zealand in this format. Currently, she is recovering from a foot injury. She has to play a three-match T20 series against Australia next month before the T20 World Cup.

The record for scoring the fastest century in the history of women's T20 cricket is in the name of New Zealand's star cricketer Sophie. She created history in 2021 by scoring a century in just 36 balls. Sophie did this feat in New Zealand's Super Smash competition. The current captain of New Zealand hit 9 sixes and 9 fours in her brilliant century innings and remained unbeaten after scoring 108 runs. Sophie broke the 10-year-old record of Deandra Dottin of the West Indies. Deandra did this feat by scoring a century in 38 balls in a T20 International match against South Africa in 2010.