IND-W vs AUS-W: Harmanpreet Kaur‘s India gears up to face Alyssa Healy-led Australia in the final T20I of the ongoing series in Navi Mumbai. With a historic win in sight, the Women in Blue would be looking to fight tooth and nail against the mighty Aussies. The series is currently locked at 1-1.
India cruised past Australia’s 142-run target pretty comfortably in the first ODI with both batters and bowlers doing their jobs extremely well. The Aussie bowlers stepped up in the second game and the batters then raced to India’s meagre total of 131. The Women in Blue still has a chance to register a historic series win.
India women have never defeated Australia in any bilateral series across formats at home. They recently defeated Australia in the one-off Test in India but a single Test is not considered a series. The Women in Blue have locked horns with the Aussies at home in five ODI series, two T20I series and a single Test series but have always been on the receiving end.
In the two T20I series at home, the Women in Blue were blown away by the power of Australia as the current T20 World Champions outclassed the Indians by similar margins of 4-1 in two series. Notably, if India win the third T20I and eventually the series, it will not be the first T20I series win against Australia as they have beaten them at Aussies’ home earlier in 2016.
A Mithali Raj-led Indian team toured Australia in 2016 and famously defeated them in the three-match series with a scoreline of 2-1. This was India women’s first-ever series victory over Aussies in any format anywhere. When the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side steps on the field, they will have a chance to win their only second and first series at home against them.
India Women Squad: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Richa Ghosh(w), Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Amanjot Kaur, Shreyanka Patil, Titas Sadhu, Renuka Thakur Singh, Mannat Kashyap, Yastika Bhatia, Saika Ishaque, Kanika Ahuja, Minnu Mani
Australia Women Squad: Alyssa Healy(w/c), Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner, Phoebe Litchfield, Grace Harris, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham, Kim Garth, Megan Schutt, Heather Graham, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Darcie Brown