Published: Jul 12, 2017, 02:00 PM (IST)
Edited: Jul 12, 2017, 09:21 PM (IST)
Hello and welcome to CricketCountry’s live updates of match No. 23, of ICC Women’s World Cup 2017, between India and Australia. I, Kaustubh Mayekar, will be providing you live scorecard, summary, and intriguing posts from the social media space in this live blog. Once table-toppers, India and Australia, are in dire need of booking a berth in the semi-finals, especially when the tournament is approaching the last leg. Where the winner of this clash will make it through the semi-final, the other will be caught in last-minute calculations. Although Australia might have had a narrow defeat against England, the defending champions will go into this clash as favourites.
Australia have maintained their supremacy with the bat, ball and fielding as well. Even against the hosts, Australia’s batting stood out. Australia, who often steal victory from the jaws of defeat, were crushed by the hosts in a last-over chase. There, however, would be enough fire in their belly to inch closer to their record seventh World Cup title. Even if Australia lose to India, their next game will be against South Africa who have never defeated them in ODIs. As for the India, their previous game against South Africa was nothing less than a reality check.
Right from the moment of the toss, everything went wrong for Mithali Raj and co. As Mithali told in her post-match conference, India’s openers would need to fire on cylinders. Besides, the spinners have been the match-winners for the side. It is the pacers who would need step up and make India a formidable unit in this penultimate stage.
With New Zealand and South Africa neck-to-neck with India’s net run rate, India cannot afford to put a step wrong.
Squads:
India Women: Mithali Raj (c), Sushma Verma (wk), Poonam Raut, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Harmanpreet Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy, Shikha Pandey, Jhulan Goswami, Ekta Bisht, Poonam Yadav, Mona Meshram, Mansi Joshi, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Nuzhat Parween
Australia Women: Meg Lanning (c), Alyssa Healy (wk), Beth Mooney, Nicole Bolton, Ellyse Perry, Elyse Villani, Alex Blackwell, Ashleigh Gardner, Jess Jonassen, Megan Schutt, Kristen Beams, Sarah Aley, Rachael Haynes, Belinda Vakarewa, Amanda Wellington
