Australia won the toss and elected to bat first against India in the highly-important World Cup semi-final clash. Australia skipper Alyssa Healy, who had played a match-winning knock of 142 in the two sides' previous meeting in the tournament, has returned after being on the sidelines for the side's last two matches.
The two teams' contrasting league stage
While Australia were absolutely dominant during the league stage, India had quite a tricky time and ended up losing three times. It was their victory over New Zealand that saw them qualify for the league stage. On the other hand, Healy's side ended the stage unbeaten and even topped the table with 13 points from seven matches. It will be crucial for the Women in Blue to restrict the opposition to a low total as it can turn out to be quite pressurizing to chase a massive target in such an important game.
Australia have made two changes to their playing XI as Healy has replaced Georgia Voll while Sophie Molineaux has returned for Georgia Wareham. On the other hand, India have made three changes to their XI with Shafali Verma coming in for the injured Pratika Rawal, Richa Ghosh replacing Uma Chetry and Kranti Goud replacing Harleen Deol.
What did the captains say?
"We gonna have bat. Great conditions here and opportunity for us to put runs on the board. I am grateful for the opportunity to get that 10-day break for the rehab. It is a semi final and it's basically whoever plays better will get the result. Just one other change. Sophie Molineux comes in for Wareham," Healy said at the toss.
"We were looking to bat first, if we get early breakthrough that would be great for us. We know this pitch, we had so many camps here and also played our last 2 games here. Whenever we play Australia, we talk about going with a fearless mindset. Unfortunately, Pratika is not there because of her injury. Shafali comes in for her. Richa and Kranti are back for Uma and Harleen," Harmanpreet said at the toss.
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.