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Women’s T20 World Cup 2024/25, AUS-W vs IND-W 18th Match, Group A Match Preview

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Women’s T20 World Cup 2024/25, AUS-W vs IND-W 18th Match, Group A Match Preview

England vs Scotland

Sharjah, 2pm local time

England squad: Heather Knight (capt), Lauren Bell, Maia Bouchier, Alice Capsey, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Danielle Gibson, Sarah Glenn, Bess Heath, Amy Jones (wk), Freya Kemp, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Linsey Smith, Danni Wyatt

Scotland squad: Kathryn Bryce (capt), Chloe Abel, Abbi Aitken-Drummond, Olivia Bell, Sarah Bryce (wk), Darcey Carter, Priyanaz Chatterji, Katherine Fraser, Saskia Horley, Lorna Jack, Ailsa Lister, Abtaha Maqsood, Megan McColl, Hannah Rainey, Rachel Slater

Tournament form guide: England have won both matches they’ve played so far – against Bangladesh and South Africa – while Scotland are coming into the match having lost all three of their games.

News brief: These teams will be facing each other for the first time in T20Is. England are coming into this match after a gap of five days, having last played against South Africa on Monday.

Scotland are out of the semi-final race. The Group B table has three teams – England, West Indies and South Africa – still in contention for the semi-final, with England having the lowest net run rate among them. England will be looking to improve their NRR with a big win.

“There was a little bit of illness at one point but I think hopefully everyone will be available,” England captain Heather Knight said of player availability ahead of the match.

Player to watch: Danni Wyatt-Hodge has been solid at top of the order for England. Chasing a tricky target of 125 on a slow Sharjah pitch, with left-arm spinners bowling from both ends, she dropped anchor after the early loss of Maia Bouchier and stitched a 64-run stand with Nat Sciver-Brunt. She finished with 43 in as many balls, which followed her Player-of-the-Match performance of 41 against Bangladesh.

Australia vs India

Sharjah, 6pm local time

Australia squad: Alyssa Healy (capt & wk), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham

India squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana (vice-capt), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, D Hemalatha, Asha Sobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, S Sajana

Tournament form guide: Australia have three wins in three matches and are coming into this contest having comprehensively beaten Pakistan. With that win, they also all but sealed a semi-final spot thanks to their net run rate of 2.786. India have two wins in three games. In their previous match, they posted the highest total of the tournament so far – 172 for 3 – and in return bundled Sri Lanka out for 90 to post their biggest win by runs at the T20 World Cup.

News brief: Australia have major injury concerns heading into the crucial clash. Just four balls into the match against Pakistan, Tayla Vlaeminck was out with a right shoulder dislocation. To make things worse, captain Alyssa Healy suffered “an acute right foot injury” while batting on 37 as she hobbled off the field with Australia needing 14 runs to win. Both players went for scans on Saturday.

India captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who had hurt her neck in the match against Pakistan, turned up with a pain-relief patch on the right side of her neck during the Sri Lanka match. She also didn’t take the field during the chase. Fast bowler Pooja Vastrakar bowled full-tilt before the Sri Lanka game but didn’t play.

India will want a big win against Australia. If they win by more than 61 runs, they will move ahead of Australia, thereby automatically qualifying for the semi-final. In a case where India win by fewer than 60 runs, they will hope New Zealand win by a very small margin against Pakistan on Monday. For instance, if India make 150 against Australia and win by exactly 10 runs, New Zealand need to beat Pakistan by 28 runs defending 150 to go ahead of India’s NRR. If India lose to Australia by more than 17 runs while chasing a target of 151, then New Zealand’s NRR will be ahead of India, even if Pakistan beat New Zealand by just 1 run while defending 150.

Overall, India have won just eight out of 34 T20Is they’ve played against Australia. Two of those wins came in the group-stage games of previous T20 World Cups, in 2018 and 2020.

Players to watch: Two of their best batters finding their form bodes well for India heading into the big game. Harmanpreet and Mandhana’s collaborative effort against Pakistan boosted India’s NRR with the semi-final race heating up. Mandhana, after a cautious start to her innings, changed gears and took on Sri Lanka’s spinners to make 50 off 38 balls. Harmanpreet, continuing from where she’d left against Pakistan, played a classic, hitting eight fours and a six on her way to a 27-ball 52. It was just what India needed to reinvigorate their T20 World Cup campaign.

Sruthi Ravindranath is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

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