'...have the upper hand': Kapil Dev's massive prediction for World Cup semi-final between India and Australia

Legendary India cricketer Kapil Dev believes that Australia have the upper hand over the hosts heading into the the highly-important World Cup semi-final clash. While Australia are yet to record a defeat in the ongoing tournament, India had quite a tricky league stage and ended up losing on three occasions. The previous meeting between the two sides saw Australia prevail mainly thanks to a fantastic century from Alyssa Healy.

Kapil also highlighted that the experience will play a key role in such an important encounter and added that the Indian players may feel a lot of pressure as they are the ones playing on home soil.

ALSO READ: 'He has got five centuries in him...': David Warner fires big 'Steve Smith' warning to England ahead of The Ashes

"I think Australia have an upper hand without any doubt because of their experience and the way that they play. But on that given day, how the team players is very important," Kapil told NDTV.

"They are playing for so long that it is not going to make any difference. It is more that our players can be under pressure. You are playing in your own country and there is a lot of pressure and responsibility on you. They need to be calm and play to the best of their abilities," he added.

Kapil backs Harmanpreet to score big

On the other hand, Kapil also backed Harmanpreet Kaur to deliver in the semi-final with the bat. He pointed out that the India skipper is a big-game player and has the ability to perform when her team needs her the most. Notably, Harmanpreet hasn't had a great campaign so far with her only 50+ score coming in the match against England that India eventually went on to lose by 4 runs.

"I think she has the ability. Certain players come out. You can talk about Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh. Certain players just have more impact and I think Harmanpreet has that ability to perform at the right time. I will not like to put pressure on her. But, she is a match-winner," Kapil stated.

ALSO READ: 'There is no better position...': Ex-India star wants Suryakumar Yadav to bat on this spot amid poor T20I form

India's playing XI: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Amanjot Kaur, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh(w), Radha Yadav, Kranti Gaud, Shree Charani, Renuka Singh Thakur.

Australia's playing XI: Phoebe Litchfield, Alyssa Healy(w/c), Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney, Annabel Sutherland, Ashleigh Gardner, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Alana King, Kim Garth, Megan Schutt.