ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023, IND vs AUS: Patchy India aiming to lift its game versus intolerant Australia
ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023: India has fought into the semis. However, with Australia in front in the knockout stage, the Indians must come up with their A-game, lifting their gameplay to the top level.
FollowHaving put up a patchy performance in the 2023 ICC Women's T20 World Cup thus far, India will have to lift its game drastically against nemesis Australia in the first semi-final at the Newlands Stadium in Cape Town on Thursday. India, among the top teams over the last five years but unable to win a major trophy, has expectedly made the semi-finals of another International Cricket Council (ICC) ICC event.
However, India has been guilty of self-destructing, especially in a knockout game against England or Australia. Australia beat India in the previous T20WC final at home and, more recently, at the 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG) gold medal match in Birmingham. Women's cricket in India has grown massively since the final appearance at the 2027 ICC World Cup, and now, it is high time the team converts its promise into performance by stepping up in a do-or-die game like the one on Thursday.
Though the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side won three of its four games in the group stage, not one performance could be convincing, including the game against Ireland. Its only loss came against England. Considering how India has played so far, one can only hope it can fix all its issues for the big game, whether it is the inconsistent top-order or the inability to hit sixes barring wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh or the high dot ball percentage.
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Opener Shafali Verma made her international debut more than three years ago. Though still a teenager, she has not learned from her mistakes, mainly her inability to rotate the strike and her susceptibility against the short ball. Skipper Harmanpreet will be under tremendous pressure to perform, having not done anything of note so far in the T20WC. She is one of the few batters who can hit the ball long but has been inconsistent for far too long.
Another loss in a World Cup knockout game could end her captaincy tenure. Opener Jemimah Rodrigues has done alright in the tournament but needs to do more to help the team's cause. Star batter Smriti Mandhana has been among the consistent performers. Once again, she will be critical to the team's chances against Australia, which is known to raise its game in a big game to 'invincible levels'.
The Meg Lanning-led side would carry a 22-match Twenty20 International (T20I) winning streak into the semi-final. Australia has lost just two official matches in any format since dropping a T20I game to New Zealand in March 2021, but notably, both defeats have come against India. In December, they outplayed India 4-1 in the series played in Mumbai.
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In the bowling department, pacer Renuka Thakur has been India's best bowler in the event with seven wickets, including a five for 15 against England. Deepti Sharma went for runs in her one over against Ireland, but she has been the most consistent in the spin department. Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Radha Yadav will have to be much more accurate against the rampaging Aussies.
However, Australia opener Beth Mooney is wary of India's challenge, going by past results. It should win comfortably. "I'm expecting it to be a huge contest, they've pushed us significantly in the last few years, and they have a bunch of match winners in that line-up as well. We're not expecting it to be easy by any means, whether with a bat or the ball, but we certainly know the style of play they've come at us with in the past, and they know ours pretty well, too," Mooney told reporters on Tuesday.
Harmanpreet said though her team lost the home series, the players got a lot of confidence from the high-scoring five games. "The brand of cricket we played in that particular series gave us a lot of confidence. And now we know them very well. We played five games back-to-back and then one practice game, we know, their strength, their weakness," she noted. Although wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy missed Australia's final group game against South Africa with quad soreness, the opener is fit for Thursday's match.
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Squads
India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Richa Ghosh (wk), Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya, Radha Yadav, Renuka Thakur, Anjali Sarvani, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Shikha Pandey.
Australia: Meg Lanning (c), Alyssa Healy (wk), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Grace Harris, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney (wk), Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland and Georgia Wareham.
Where to watch
Date and day: February 23, 2023 (Thursday)
Venue: Newlands Stadium, Cape Town
Time: 6.30 PM (IST)
Where to watch (TV): Star Sports 1 and other Star Sports regional language channels - Also available in HD
Where to watch (Online): Hotstar
(With inputs from PTI)
