Harmanpreet Kaur and Alyssa Healy. (Image: ANI)
India women take on Australia women in the 1st of the three T20Is scheduled to be played this month. All the matches will played at Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil stadium. India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur reflected on her recent barren form with the bat and stated that “luck” has played a crucial role in it ahead of the T20I series against Australia at the DY Patil Stadium. Australia white-washed India in the ODI series as they clinched a 3-0 victory. Harmanpreet’s lack of runs was one of the concerns that were raised during the series.
Also Read | LIVE Updates | IND-W VS AUS-W, 1st T20I Cricket Match Live Score
In the entire ODI series, Harmanpreet scored 17 runs with 9 being her highest. On the eve of the clash, Harmanpreet reflected on her individual performance and said in the pre-match press conference, “Even because I got out in a weird manner a couple of times. It was not that I played bad shots or they bowled well, but those were weird ways of getting out. I am trying my level best to train hard and bat so that it does not look like I am out of form.”
The Indian skipper further went on to talk about spending the past few days with head coach Amol Muzumdar and working on the mental aspect and said, “Yesterday, we sat down to analyse my last few innings and he (Muzumdar) went through each and every delivery that I faced and wanted to find out what was going on in my mind at that time. He heard me patiently and today, I came and batted for an hour. He’s giving important pointers to each and everyone and all of us are trusting him.”
_ _ “Everyone is excited for the T20I series.”#TeamIndia captain @ImHarmanpreet talks about the mood in the camp ahead of the #INDvAUS T20I series opener. @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/zmuOjhH99W— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) January 4, 2024
“Our head coach is quite sorted and he brings everyone together. Every player loves communicating with him as he listens to them patiently and helps them out. He is someone who’s played a lot of cricket and he has been through a similar phase – that we are in now – in his playing days, so he understands it all,” Harmanpreet added.
With a packed schedule, the Indian team has played a good amount of games and even shifted formats from Test to ODI in the last one month
With such a tight schedule, the question of fatigue is bound to arise. But, Harmanpreet made it clear that there were no fatigue-related issues in the squad.
Everything you need to know about the match:
IND-W vs AUS-W 1st T20I: Dream11 Prediction Picks
Wicketkeepers: Alyssa Healy
Batters: Ellyse Perry, Smriti
Mandhana, Phoebe Litchfield, Jemimah Rodrigues
All-rounders: Deepti Sharma, Tahlia McGrath, Ashleigh Gardner, Pooja Vastrakar
Bowlers: Georgia Wareham, Richa Singh Thakur
India women vs Australia women 1st T20I: Squads
Australia: Darcie Brown, Heather Graham, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham
India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Saika Ishaque, Mannat Kashyap, Amanjot Kaur, Minnu Mani, Kanika Ahuja, Shreyanka Patil, Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Richa Ghosh (wk), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Titas Sadhu, Renuka Singh.
India women vs Australia women probable playing 11s
IND Probable 11: S Mandhana, Shafali Verma, JI Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), H Kaur (C), DB Sharma, P Vastrakar, Shreyanka Patil, Titas Sadhu, S Ishaque, Renuka Singh
AUS Probable 11: Alyssa Healy (C), BL Mooney (wk), GM Harris, A Sutherland, EA Perry, A Gardner, TM McGrath, Phoebe Litchfield, G Wareham, ML Schutt, A King