Rejigged Australia prepare to resume Indian rivalry

The defending champions lost two players to injury during Friday’s win over Pakistan, with fast bowler Tayla Vlaeminck and captain Alyssa Healy both leaving the field of play with a shoulder and foot injury respectively.

And the expected unavailability of the pair will mean changes to the side for the big game against India, with Healy’s likely absence meaning the team will need a new captain, a new wicketkeeper and a new opening batter.

But all-rounder Tahlia McGrath is confident that the squad have the depth to cope.

“The thing about this Australian side is how much depth we’ve got,” she said after Friday’s nine-wicket win. “Captaincy point of view, wicket-keeping, we’ve got so much depth… time to use it.”

Ashleigh Gardner was Player of the Match against Pakistan and spoke to the world’s media after the match, discussing the concern the squad have about their injured teammates ahead of a match that was always likely to be their most testing of the group stage.

“We have a really big challenge coming up against India,” she said. “They will certainly challenge me personally, and we have had a few good battles with them over the years.”

“Quite a bit's happened tonight so it's about staying together as a group.

“Obviously a couple of our mates have been injured and we certainly want to take them into consideration with how we progress into the next game.

“There's certainly going to have to be changes, that's pretty obvious, but I think as a whole unit it's about making sure that we stick together. They're our mates at the end of the day, so making sure that their wellbeing is put first and then obviously having to switch pretty quickly into that India game it's certainly going to be a challenge.

“I spoke about we know that they're one of the best T20 cricket teams in the world, so being able to switch our focus really quickly is certainly something that we're going to have to do.”

India are ranked third in the world in the format and have recent experience of how to go about beating the world’s top-ranked team.

While Australia did win a T20I series 2-1 in India earlier in 2024, it was the first match of that series that will give Harmanpreet Kaur’s side particular confidence.

Having bowled Australia out for 141, India chased it down in quick time, inspired by half-centuries from opening pair Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma – both of whom also looked in good form during India’s win over Sri Lanka earlier this week.

“(Against Australia) we definitely have to play good cricket first of all,” India captain Kaur said, hoping for a similarly ruthless bowling performance this time around.

“They are a good side, but at the same time it’s good to see our bowlers in a good rhythm, they are giving us breakthroughs whenever we need it.”

And young opener Verma is similarly bullish:

“For Sharjah, we will have three days off, If I am not wrong. So, we will work on the process and we will focus on what we can do to be confident. And hopefully, if we give our 100% individually then of course, we will win.”

The T20 World Cup will see 23 matches held in total over 18 days, with all matches in the two host cities of Dubai and Sharjah.

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