Australia vs India, ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020, Sydney: Preview, likely XI, prediction

This is a delicious encounter to get the ball rolling. The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 will begin with favourites Australia taking on dark horses India, and given how the T20I tri-nation series comprising these two sides and England panned out before the mega event, this could be quite a cracker.

Australia were generally assumed – with good reason – to be the foremost favourites in the tournament, given their dominance of the last decade, and generally over the last few years. They’ll be aiming to win their fifth T20 title at this tournament, and add to it the fact that they are playing at home, there seems to be little stopping them from doing just that.

However, the tri-series has tempered those expectations a bit. The performances of India and England, both under different management since the 2018 edition, showed the teams had some spunk about them, and wouldn’t necessarily take anything lying down. Each side suffered two losses each, and it needed a Super Over for Australia to beat England in the final.

But as worried as Australia would have been at that, it’s certainly a good sign as far as competition for the tournament is concerned. However, now that tournament will officially get under way, the pressure builds. And Australia have a habit of stepping up in these moments – that’s why they’re champions.

Can India usurp them? Can they dent them first up? It depends. As much as India have improved, the old insecurities remain – their middle order is fragile, and the team is top heavy. If Australia can get past India’s top order, they’d have taken a big step towards victory. That’ll be the key battle come Friday.

This should be interesting.

Head to head

Australia boss the head-to-head record. In 18 matches, they’ve won as many as 13, with India winning just five times. However, India won their last encounter, by 11 runs, during the tri-series in Melbourne.

Key players

Ellyse Perry (Australia): She can bat, she can bowl, she can drive to the moon and back in a day. She’s arguably the best all-rounder in the game, and it’s one of the scary things about Australia’s depth that they can afford to bring her to the middle when the situation demands it. Deal with her, and India have a chance.

Smriti Mandhana (India): Easily one of the most destructive batter in the game, the start Mandhana provides and the duration she is in the middle will be key in how India fares with the bat tomorrow. Australia will be wary of that and throw the kitchen sink at her, but if she can see past that, India can be confident.

Likely XI

Australia: Beth Mooney, Alyssa Healy (wk), Meg Lanning (c), Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner, Rachel Haynes, Nicola Carey, Annabel Sutherland, Jess Jonassen, Megan Schutt, Tayla Vlaeminck

India: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Shikha Pandey, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Arundhati Reddy

Prediction

Australia to win, but only just.