Australia Women vs India Women, Womens T20I Tri-Series in Australia, 2020, Today Match Prediction 08 Feb 2020

ausw vs indw Match Prediction & Analysis

The last time Australia Women and India Women met in the ongoing Australia Tri-Nation Women's T20 Series, the home side thumped India comfortably by 4 wickets. Australia would now be looking to repeat that performance as the sides meet again at Junction Oval this Saturday. Another victory here would more or less confirm Australia's spot in the finals. India Women, though, would be desperate not to fall down again. They have talent in their ranks and need to play to potential to beat Australia in their own backyard.

Playing at home, Australia Women will certainly have the advantage. India Women's best hope is that their spinners come to the party and strangle the home team.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Australia Women Preview

Despite losing the tied game against England Women, Australia Women showed a lot of character to bounce back hard and thwart India in the very next match. It was their bowling that really made the impact in the match as they bundled out India for just 103 runs courtesy a terrific spell of 4-13 by Ellyse Perry. The seam-bowling all-rounder has been outstanding in this series so far and had produced unbelievable figures of 1-9 against England earlier. Megan Schutt has been a tad expensive but Tayla Vlaeminck was great in the last match and will certainly be tried again. In Jess Jonassen and Annabel Sutherland, the team has more valuable bowling options.

Australia's batting hasn't quite hit the mark yet in this series. However, they have oodles of talent. Alyssa Healy, Beth Mooney and Ellyse Perry are all capable to-order batters and can take the game away from the opposition. Perry struck a beautiful 49 against India on a tough pitch last time. She will again be the player to watch out for. Captain Meg Lanning, who missed the last game due to an injury, is expected to return for the India game and will further bolster the Australian side.

Australia Women Predicted Playing XI:

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

India Women Preview

India Women will have to be careful about how they approach this game. Before playing Australia, they will be playing England Women the day before at the same venue. And if things don't go their way in that game, then this match would become a do-or-die affair. What they cannot afford is another batting collapse like the one they had against Australia the last time. Barring Smriti Mandhana's composed 35 on a difficult pitch, the others couldn't do much.

However, they have enough talent in the unit to put pressure on Australia. The likes of Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues and Veda Krishnamurthy, along with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, have the capability to destroy any bowling unit. India's bowling is centered on their spinners.

Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav and Rajeshwari Gayakwad form a formidable spin troika and if they get even some purchase on the wicket they will be more than a handful for Australia's batters. They will be ably supported by seamer Shikha Pandey. The Indian bowling unit has done well in this series and has managed to restrict oppositions by taking regular wickets.  Another performance like that will put them in a strong position. The team winning the toss is likely to bowl first as restricting oppositions to modest scores and then chasing the target down has been the model of success in this series so far.

India Women Predicted Playing XI:

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

India Women Actual Playing XI:

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

PITCH AND WEATHER CONDITIONS

Weather Conditions

The pitch at the Junction Oval in Melbourne is a true surface that shouldn't change much throughout the 40 overs. The pitch generally helps batters but bowlers who can vary their lengths will get help from the surface. The weather for the match is expected to be cool and clear.

Venue Details

There have been some really entertaining and thrilling domestic contests played at the Junction Oval in Melbourne in the past. A high-scoring game is on the cards and both teams may well score above 150 runs. A total of 160+ by the team batting first will be a good score and should be a match-winning one.

Toss: To Bowl

The team winning the toss is likely to bowl first as restricting oppositions to modest scores and then chasing the target down has been the mode of success in this series so far.