After their first-ever pink-ball Test, India are ready to take on Australia in the shortest format of the game. In terms of points, Australia lead the series by 6-4 and visitors India have a chance to cash in on the momentum they have gained from previous two games. It has been a pretty competitive affair so far. The first ODI was the only one-sided game of the tour and it was followed by a last-ball thriller and an epic run chase by India. In the pink-ball Test, India dominated for the better part of the four-day affair and were almost hard done by rain on the first two days.
India’s T20I skipper Harmanpreet Kaur will be playing her first match of the tour as she was ruled out of ODI series and one-off Test due to thumb injury. Harmanpreet has a good record against Australia and the batting-friendly pitches will suit her batting style.
Shikha Pandey will be leading the pace attack in the absence of retired Jhulan Goswami. With the kind of performances with bat and ball Goswami delivered in the last two ODIs, it feels as if maybe she retired too early from the T20 format as she can score quick runs lower down the order and a frontline bowler. Pandey, on the other hand, will be playing her first game on the tour as she was warming the benches.
Jemimah Rodrigues is also likely to feature in the T20I lineup after her outstanding performance for Northern Superchargers scoring 241 runs from five games including three half-centuries in the inaugural season of The Hundred.
On the other hand, it will be interesting to see if Yastika Bhatia gets her debut cap in T20Is as well. Bhatia scored a game-changing 64 in the third ODI giving India a chance in the run chase. With the likes of Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh in form, we may see a high-scoring game at Carrara Oval, Queensland.
For Australia, the player of the bilateral series will be all-rounder Tahlia McGrath. She scored 121 runs from two ODI innings and picked up four wickets in the ODI series. Nicola Carey too is on the verge of comeback after her performance with the ball and in the second ODI run chase.
For both teams, there will be a problem of plenty when they select the team for the first T20I. We may see a few debut caps getting handed to the players on the basis of performances in ODI series.
