Toss Australia chose to bat vs India
Alyssa Healy, sidelined from the previous game with a minor calf strain, was back to lead Australia, who also brought in left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux instead of legspinner Georgia Wareham. “I am healthy. [I am] grateful to have had the ten days when we had already qualified for recovery and rehab,” Healy said, adding that she didn’t expect the pitch to change much during the course of the game.India, who also wanted to bat, brought in a surprise in their team combination. They dropped Harleen Deol for an extra bowling option in allrounder Amanjot Kaur, who was pencilled to bat at No. 3. India also continued with Radha Yadav, who picked up three wickets against Bangladesh on Sunday, and kept out Sneh Rana.Shafali Verma, whose last ODI was almost exactly one year ago, slotted in as a straight swap for the injured Pratika Rawal.
The pitch was devoid of grass and promised to be flat, and the sold-out fixture is expected to be a run-fest. Navi Mumbai woke up on Thursday to unseasonal rains and there was a slight drizzle even about 90 minutes before toss time. But the weather cleared up and the venue was bathed in bright sunshine when the two captains were out for the toss.
Australia are on a 15-match winning streak in ODI World Cups. Their last defeat was in the 2017 World Cup semi-final, to India, which was the last time they lost a knockout game in the format.
India: 1 Smriti Mandhana, 2 Shafali Verma, 3 Amanjot Kaur, 4 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 5 Jemimah Rodrigues, 6 Richa Ghosh (wk), 7 Deepti Sharma, 8 Radha Yadav, 9 Kranti Gaud, 10 N Shree Charani, 11 Renuka Singh
Australia: 1 Alyssa Healy (capt & wk), 2 Phoebe Litchfield, 3 Ellyse Perry, 4 Annabel Sutherland, 5 Beth Mooney, 6 Ashleigh Gardner, 7 Tahlia McGrath, 8 Sophie Molineux, 9 Alana King, 10 Kim Garth, 11 Megan Schutt
