India or Australia – Who will triumph in heavyweight T20 World Cup semi-final?

LIVE: Australia v India

It doesn’t get much bigger than Australia versus India at Newlands, and the two sides have been preparing to duke it out for a spot in Sunday’s showpiece match at the same ground.

Australia lived up to their billing as the world’s top-ranked T20I team with a masterful display in Group 1, winning all four of their matches to progress with ease.

Nobody really got close to beating the defending champions, as they crushed New Zealand by 97 runs in the opener, completed easy run-chases against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and finished with a display of power-hitting against South Africa.

India suffered a scare when they lost to England in their third match, falling short in search of a target of 150.

But three wins from four proved more than enough to send them through in the end.

Quality run-chases against Pakistan and West Indies saw them open up their Group 2 campaign in style, and they finished it off with a win via DLS method against Ireland, after amassing 155/6 in the first innings. Even a loss in that match would not have been enough to prevent them progressing to this semi-final, unless it had been by an enormous margin.

India’s side will be packed with plenty of experience. The one big selection decision was likely to be whether they opt for Devika Vaidya or Radha Yadav in that extra all-rounder slot, but the injury to Pooja Vastrakar means that both could possibly feature.

Expected India XI: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya, Radha Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Renuka Thakur.

India face major blow ahead of T20 World Cup semi-final against Australia

Australia have confirmed that Alyssa Healy is available again after the injury knock that kept her out of the final group game.

That is likely to mean Annabel Sutherland drops out of the team and Ellyse Perry slips back down into the middle order after her brief stint as an opener.

The big decision will be whether Jess Jonassen’s left-arm spin is required. The 30-year-old hasn’t featured since the opening game against New Zealand.

**Expected Australia XI:**Alyssa Healy, Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning, Ash Gardner, Ellyse Perry, Tahlia McGrath, Grace Harris, Georgia Wareham, Alana King, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown.

Australia vs India: The key battles that will decide T20 World Cup semi-final

Australia 22-7 India

Australia have a dominant record over every other nation in this format, but India have been a side who pushed them close through the years.

India beat Australia twice in the run-up to the last Women’s T20 World Cup, and were of course the last team to beat the Aussies in a T20I (excluding Ireland’s victory in the warm-up fixtures prior to this tournament).

Richa Ghosh blueprints India's Australian Assault

But wins have been infrequent. Australia won the other four matches in that T20I series in India in December, and won 2-0 when the teams met in a series in Australia in 2021.

They also beat India twice at the Commonwealth Games last summer, including in the final, making it two consecutive major final defeats for India to Australia in the last three years.

There are reserve days for both semi-finals and the final at this tournament, although umpires will first use available extra time and, if necessary, reduce the number of overs to try to achieve a result on the initial day.

If sufficient overs are not able to be bowled on either the scheduled day or reserve day then the top-ranked qualifier (Australia) will progress.

If the match finishes with the scores level then the game will go to a Super Over.

If the scores are level at the end of the Super Over, then another Super Over will be played, with the pattern continuing until a winner is confirmed.

The same rules will apply in the final.

Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town

Newlands Cricket Ground in Cape Town is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful venues in the world, being overlooked by Table Mountain and Devil's Peak.

It is a regular venue for Test matches, ODIs and T20Is, while also being the home of the Cape Cobras which play in the Sunfoil Series, Momentum 1 Day Cup and RamSlam Pro20 competitions.

The pitch conditions have been quite favourable for spinners so far at this tournament, but England showed that there are plenty of runs on offer on the Newlands surface when they smashed 213/5 at the ground against Pakistan just a couple of days ago – the highest ever score at a Women’s T20 World Cup.

The ground will also host Sunday's final.

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