Australia Women vs India Women, ICC Womens T20 World Cup 2020, Today Match Prediction 21 Feb 2020

ausw vs indw Match Prediction & Analysis

Australia Women and India Women will kick-start the much-awaited ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia. It is only befitting that two of the top teams in the world commence the big tournament. The two sides had clashed very recently - three times in the Australia women's Tri-Nation Series - and would be well aware of each other's strengths and weaknesses.

In the tri-series, hosts Australia had managed to beat India twice and triumphed over them in the all-important final. They will be the home side in this World Cup encounter as well and will thus begin as favorites for the clash. However, India's top order is strong and their spin bowlers can really put Australia in a tangle. It should hence be a fascinating clash.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Australia Women Preview

Australia Women have a solid all-round unit with plenty of match-winners in their ranks. In Alyssa Healy, Beth Mooney and Ashleigh Gardner they have three of the strongest top-order batters you will see in the tournament. Mooney, who top-scored with 71 in the tri-series final against India recently, will be confident of repeating her heroics against the same team.

Captain Meg Lanning will, of course, be the superstar to watch out for Australia and can take the game away from India if she clicks. Another player who can be the game-changer for Australia is Ellyse Perry both with the ball and the bat.

Their bowling is well sorted. Tayla Vlaeminck, Megan Schutt and Jess Jonassen have all been in good rhythm recently. Jonassen, especially, will be flying high after her 5-12 in the final against India. Ellyse Perry should keep things tight with her seam bowling.

Australia Women Predicted Playing XI:

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

Australia Women Actual Playing XI:

Meg Lanning, Beth Mooney, Megan Schutt, Jess Jonassen, Molly Strano, Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner, Annabel Sutherland, Alyssa Healy, Delissa Kimmince, Rachael Haynes

India Women Preview

While India Women lost the tri-series final against Australia recently, they will still take heart from the fact that they had beaten the home side a match before comprehensively. They have a really strong top-order and if Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues click, they can blow Australia away.

However, the problem with India has been that their middle order has failed in recent times. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma will have to ensure that they contribute if they hope to beat this strong Australian team.

India's bowling strength is its spinners. Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, and Rajeshwari Gayakwad form a formidable spin troika and if they can get some help from the wicket they will be quite a handful for the Australian batters. Shikha Pandey has been the lead seam bowler for India Women in recent times and it will be interesting to see if she can pose a challenge to the opposition. If the wicket is slow, then this Indian bowling unit will certainly make life difficult for Australia.

India Women Predicted Playing XI:

Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana, Shikha Pandey, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Radha Yadav, Harleen Deol, Arundhati Reddy, Shafali Verma

India Women Actual Playing XI:

Smriti Mandhana, Veda Krishnamurthy, Taniya Bhatia, Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, Poonam Yadav, Jemimah Rodrigues, Arundhati Reddy, Harmanpreet Kaur, Shafali Verma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad

PITCH AND WEATHER CONDITIONS

Weather Conditions

There hasn't been any international game played yet at the Sydney Showground Stadium. However, it is expected to behave like a typical Australian surface. The pitch should be hard initially and the ball will come on nicely to the bat. The seam bowlers and spinners will enjoy the bounce and movement. Scattered showers are expected on the day of the match in Sydney. However, we should have a full game with no interruptions.

Venue Details

The Sydney Showground was previously known as Spotless Stadium and hosted the baseball events for the 2000 Summer Olympics. It has a 22,500-seat capacity and is expected to be brimming with crowd for the inaugural match of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup. It will be interesting to see how the pitch behaves in the tournament.

Toss: To Bat

The team which wins the toss should bat first as posting a healthy total and putting pressure on the opposition should be the way to go in such a big game.