India face Australia in must-win Women’s T20 World Cup clash

India face defending giants Australia in a must-win Women's T20 World Cup Group A match, with a semifinal place at stake. Harmanpreet Kaur's side will need to overcome batting inconsistencies and poor fielding against the unbeaten six-time champions

London: With a place in the Women’s T20 World Cup semifinals on the line, a fallible India will be desperate to overcome their fielding and batting woes when they take on six-time champions Australia in their final Group A clash here on Sunday.

The day’s two matches will determine the semifinal lineup from the group, with South Africa (six points) taking on Bangladesh (four) at Lord’s before India (six) meet unbeaten Australia (eight).

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Given South Africa’s overwhelming head-to-head (9-2 in 12 matches) record against Bangladesh, India’s clash against Australia is expected to become a virtual quarterfinal.

If the Proteas, who are the last edition’s finalists, win as anticipated, India will have to beat Australia to qualify, while a defeat would end the hopes of the reigning ODI world champions.

Australia, on the other hand, can still afford a loss and progress courtesy of their eight points and a far superior net run rate of 4.724.

However, an unlikely Bangladesh upset would ease the pressure on India as, even in defeat, Harmanpreet Kaur’s side could still sneak into the last four if their net run rate of 2.268 remains superior to South Africa’s current 0.734.

But it will be nothing less than a test of character for Harmanpreet Kaur’s side, who have battled one issue after another throughout this campaign.

India’s tournament began with concerns over the form of their openers.

But even as Smriti Mandhana (167 runs) and Shafali Verma (145) responded well, India’s middle order comprising skipper Harmanpreet (85) and Jemimah Rodrigues (58) has repeatedly fallen short.

While grappling with that problem, India’s fielding nosedived, particularly in the last two games where they have collectively dropped six catches.

India lost one of those matches, against South Africa, while they beat Bangladesh by five wickets to remain afloat despite spilling four catches.

The Indian think tank, led by Harmanpreet and head coach Amol Muzumdar, would thus know that such errors may not allow them a chance to come back in the contest against a rampant Australia, who are on a roll with their unbeaten run.

There is no particular explanation as to why India’s fielding has been as poor as it has in the last two games.

Radha Yadav, who has generally been an excellent fielder, has dropped three of those six catches, including two against South Africa.

India will undoubtedly draw inspiration from their victory over Australia in the ODI World Cup semifinal, in which an innings of a lifetime from Jemimah helped them overcome the final frontier and set them on the path to their first-ever global title.

Shree Charani’s form, having taken 12 wickets in four matches so far, makes India reliant on the left-arm spinner, but the team would also want the others to bowl well around her. This has again been a talking point, with the bowlers not clicking together.

On their part, Australia will be assured of their skills and have one eye on the semifinal when they take the field against India.

Australia are also likely to get a boost in the form of Phoebe Litchfield’s return for this contest. She, in particular, enjoys batting against India and has missed three games in this World Cup due to a calf injury.

Teams (from):

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Richa Ghosh (wk), Jemimah Rodrigues, Bharti Fulmali, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Renuka Singh Thakur, Prema Rawat, Arundhati Reddy, Nandani Sharma, Shree Charani, Radha Yadav.

Australia: Sophie Molineux (c), Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney (wk), Georgia Voll, Tahlia McGrath (vc), Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Lucy Hamilton, Grace Harris, Alana King, Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland, Nicola Carey, Megan Schutt, Georgia Wareham.

Match starts at 7:00 pm IST.