IND-W vs AUS-W, Women’s T20 World Cup Semi-Final: Harmanpreet Kaur To Lead India, Australia Opt To Bat

Meg Lanning, the captain of Australia, won the toss and chose to bat against India on Thursday at Newlands, Cape Town, in the first semi-final game of the 2017 Women’s T20 World Cup. After initially being thought to have been forced to withdraw from the match owing to sickness, Harmanpreet Kaur returned to captain Team India. Australia defeated India in both the home World Cup final in the past and the Commonwealth Games gold medal game in Birmingham the previous year. Since India’s final appearance at the ODI World Cup in 2017, women’s cricket in the country has significantly expanded, and the team will now be under pressure to perform well against Australia in the last four.

Pooja Vastrakar was replaced by Sneh Rana in the India squad during the 11th hour of the semi-final, and the fact that skipper Harmanpreet Kaur is well enough to lead the team at Newlands in Cape Town for the crucial semi-final matchup with Australia is a blessing.

Alyssa Healy, the team’s leading run scorer who was absent for the final group stage match, is back for Australia, further bolstering their line-up. In contrast, India fell to England after defeating West Indies and Pakistan. They ended their group stage campaign by being crowned victors using the DLS technique in a rain-shortened game.

Playing XIs: 

Australia: Alyssa Healy(w), Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning(c), Ashleigh Gardner, Ellyse Perry, Tahlia McGrath, Grace Harris, Georgia Wareham, Jess Jonassen, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown;

India: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Richa Ghosh(w), Deepti Sharma, Yastika Bhatia, Sneh Rana, Shikha Pandey, Radha Yadav, Renuka Thakur Singh

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