London, June 27: With a place in the Women’s T20 World Cup semifinals on the line, a fallible India will be desperate to overcome their fielding and batting woes when they take on six-time champions Australia in their final Group A clash here on Sunday.
The day’s two matches will determine the semifinal lineup from the group, with South Africa (six points) taking on Bangladesh (four) at Lord’s before India (six) meet unbeaten Australia (eight).
Given South Africa’s overwhelming head-to-head (9-2 in 12 matches) record against Bangladesh, India’s clash against Australia is expected to become a virtual quarterfinal.
If the Proteas, who are the last edition’s finalists, win as anticipated, India will have to beat Australia to qualify, while a defeat would end the hopes of the reigning ODI world champions.
Australia, on the other hand, can still afford a loss and progress courtesy their eight points and a far superior net run rate of 4.724.
However, an unlikely Bangladesh upset would ease the pressure on India as even in defeat, Harmanpreet Kaur’s side could still sneak into the last-four if their net run rate of 2.268 remains superior to South Africa’s current 0.734.
But it will be no less than a test of character for Harmanpreet Kaur’s side who have battled one issue after another throughout this campaign.
India’s tournament began with the form of their openers being a concern.
But even as Smriti Mandhana (167 runs) and Shafali Verma (145) responded well, India’s middle-order comprising skipper Harmanpreet (85) and Jemimah Rodrigues (58) came up short repeatedly.
While grappling with that problem, India’s fielding nose dived, particularly in the last two games where they have collectively dropped six catches.
India lost one of those matches – against South Africa – while they beat Bangladesh by five wickets to remain afloat even after spilling four catches.
The Indian think tank, led by Harmanpreet and head coach Amol Muzumdar, would thus know no such errors may allow them a chance to comeback in the contest against a rampant Australia, who are on a roll with their unbeaten run.
There is no particular explanation to why India’s fielding has been as poor as it has been in the last two games.
Radha Yadav, who has generally been an excellent fielder, has dropped three of those six catches including two against South Africa.
India will undoubtedly draw inspiration from their victory over Australia in the the ODI World Cup’s semifinal, in which an innings of a lifetime from Jemimah helped them overcome the final frontier and set them on the path for their first-ever global title win.
Shree Charani’s form, who has taken 12 wickets in four matches so far, makes India reliant on the left-arm spinner but the team would also want the others to bowl well around her, which again has been a talking point with the bowlers not clicking together.
On their part, Australia will be assured of their skills and have one eye on the semifinal when they take the field against India.
Australia are also likely to get a boost in form of Phoebe Litchfield’s return for this contest, who in particular enjoys batting against India, after missing three games in this World Cup due to a calf injury. (PTI)
Match starts at 7:00pm IST
