Women’s T20 World Cup 2024: India vs Australia in do-or-die Sharjah tie; match preview and result prediction

The Indian women’s cricket team will face off with the defending champions, Australia, in their final group game of the ongoing Women’s T20 World Cup in Sharjah on Sunday (Oct 13). While India is fighting for a place in the semis, Australia juggles looking after their injured players and maintaining the winning streak. Here is the match preview and the prediction of the result for the India vs Australia game in the Women's T20 WC.

Match Preview -

India has to win in Sharjah to qualify for the last four, and any result outside of this could result in their exit from the group stages.

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India lost their tournament opener against New Zealand by 58 runs but won the remaining two matches against Asian giants Pakistan and Sri Lanka to stay alive in the semis race.

While Australia leads the points table with three wins from as many games, adding up to six points, India and New Zealand are placed second and third, respectively, with four points each and one game remaining.

For India to qualify directly for the last four, they must beat Australia by 61 runs (given India scores 150 by batting first).

In another case, if India beats Australia by 20 runs, they have to hope for a New Zealand win over Pakistan, but not more than 37 runs, for India to stay ahead on the NRR.

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If Australia beats India, the women in blue can still cruise to the next round ahead of New Zealand if the margin of defeat is less than 16 runs.

However, if New Zealand wins their last group game, regardless of the margin, they will enter the semis, knocking India out.

On the other hand, Australia would be worried heading into the marquee clash, with Captain Alyssa Healy (acute right foot injury) and Tayla Vlaeminck (right shoulder dislocation) leaving the field in their previous match.

Their inclusion, however, would be a late call on Sunday.

Though India’s back is against the wall, given their stance on the points table, they can cause an upset in this blockbuster tie.

Predicted Playing XIs –

India - Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav/S Sajana, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyannka Patil, Renuka Thakur, Asha Sobhana

Australia - Beth Mooney (wk), Grace Harris, Ellyse Perry, Phoebe Litchfield, Ashleigh Gardner, Georgia Wareham, Tahlia McGrath (C), Annabel Sutherland, Sophie Molineux, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown/Alana King