ICC Women's T20 World Cup: Everything about Australia vs India
What's the story
The ICC Women's T20 World Cup is set to start from February 21 onwards. Defending champions Australia are set to face India at the Sydney Showground Stadium. Australia start the game as favorites, however, India will want to pose a strong challenge. India Women have pretty much got accustomed to the conditions. Here we look at the match preview.
Details
Pitch report, timing and TV listing
The Showground Stadium will see the ball coming into the bat in the early part of the innings. Batswomen will need to make use of the early stages. Spinners will have a role to play. The match will be telecast live on the Star Sports Network and be streamed on Hotstar. The game will start at 1:30 PM IST.
Team India
India Women will count on the top order to deliver
India's top order will need to bear the responsibility of sharing the maximum workload. The team's top four in batting will hold key to how things pan out. Smriti Mandhana is the star player of this side. Harmanpreet Kaur is the shield at number four, however, post her, the middle order looks highly vulnerable. The bowling looks sorted for India.
AUS Women
Australia Women enter the game as the favorites
Meg Lanning-led Australian women's cricket team boasts of powerful performers. Australia Women have class written all over. They recently beat India in the final of the T20I tri-series, involving England. Australia will bank on their pedigree to dish out a commendable show. The defenders are the clear favorites here and will want to start strongly at home.
Dream11
Dream11: Perry and Mandhana get the leadership nods
Wicket-keeper batswoman Alyssa Healy and Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain) open the batting of this Dream11 side. Aussie skipper Meg Lanning comes in next and is followed by all-rounder Elysse Perry (captain). Jemimah Rodrigues, Ashleigh Gardner and Veda Krishnamurthy follow suit. The bowling unit consists the likes of Megan Schutt, Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav and A Reddy.
Views
Here's what Harmanpreet Kaur said
Indian skipper Kaur seemed excited and said India can put pressure. "The nerves do start to kick in because we are very excited about that opening game and we're looking positive in that," said Kaur to the official T20 World Cup website. "We are a side that can put pressure on any team, we just look to stay in the right mindset."