Women's World T20, India vs Australia: Where the World Cup final could be won and lost
We have a mouth-watering contest on our hands as two in-form teams will face each other in the final of the Women's World T20. While the Indian women's team have entered their maiden World T20 appearance with an unbeaten run, the hosts, Australia, have bounced back strongly after facing defeat in their opening game, which incidentally came against India. Both the sides look evenly-matched and it is hard to predict the winner.
How can Australia stop Shafali Verma?
Shafali Verma has been sensational in the tournament thus far. The 16-year-old has taken the attack to the opposition without paying attention to the reputation of the bowlers or the pressure of performing in a major ICC tournament. Verma has scored 161 runs at a brisk strike-rate and it will be interesting to see what ploy the Aussie bowlers come up with to pacify Verma as they very well know that if they do not get rid of her early, she will take the game away from them in a blink.
Pressure on the under-performing Indian middle-order
Also see – RCB squad
Shafali Verma's brilliance has covered the failures of the Indian middle-order so far. While Jemimah Rodrigues hasn't been able to play any big innings, Veda Krishnamurthy has failed to spend much time at the crease. However, India's biggest concern has been the form of their skipper Harmanpreet Kaur. Kaur has scored just 26 runs at a poor average of 6.5 and has looked completely out of sorts. The Aussie bowlers will look to target the vulnerable-looking Indian middle-order.
The spin-quadrant vs the experienced batting line-up
The biggest battle, and possibly the one that will decide the course of the match will be between the Indian spinners and the Australian batters.
The Indian spin-quadrant of Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Deepti Sharma and Radha Yadav have been extremely effective. In the final, they will be up against probably the best batting side of the tournament. Beth Mooney has been in amazing form and is the third highest run-getter of the tournament. Despite blowing hot and cold in the tournament, Alyssa Healy will be a big danger for India in the final. And then the hosts have the experienced pair of Meg Lanning, who has been in tremendous form of late, and Rachael Haynes. Can the Indian tweakers lay the spin trap around the Aussie batters?