The most awaited 2020 ICC Women’s T20 World cup is going to be held on March 8. This match will take place in Melbourne cricket ground on International Women’s day. In the final match both the teams of group, A i.e India is going to face Australia.
India women were the first team to qualify for the semi-finals, after recording three wins from their first three matches. The first semi-final was abandoned with no play due to rain, meaning India advanced to the final. In the second semi-final, hosts Australia beat South Africa by five runs in a rain-affected match. So let’s not wait and jump to the statistics of both the teams.
Points Table
| Team | P | W | L | T | NR | Pts | NRR |
| India | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | +0.979 |
| Australia | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | +0.971 |
If we look at the points table above, India is in the lead position against Australia with 4 matches in its pocket and Australia is in the second position with 1 loss that too against India. But if we look at the net run rate (NRR), there is not much difference. So it gives a clear idea that the batting strategy of both teams is almost the same.
Batting Performance:
| Player | INN | RUNS | AVG | SR | |
| 1 | Beth Mooney | 5 | 181 | 45.25 | 118.30 |
| 2 | Shafali Verma | 4 | 161 | 40.25 | 161.00 |
| 3 | Alyssa Healy | 5 | 161 | 32.20 | 143.75 |
| 4 | Meg Lanning | 4 | 116 | 58.00 | 98.31 |
| 5 | Racheal Haynes | 4 | 60 | 34.00 | 125.93 |
| 6 | Deepthi Sharma | 4 | 83 | 41.50 | 65.13 |
If we take a look at the batting performance of both the teams and compare them, the Australian team has an edge over India’s team with good strike rate, good average and highest runs.
Bowling Performance:
| Player | Team | Matches | Balls | Runs | Wickets | Eco |
| Poonam Yadav | IND | 4 | 96 | 89 | 9 | 5.56 |
| Megan Schutt | AUS | 5 | 108 | 116 | 9 | 6.44 |
| Shikha Pandey | IND | 4 | 95 | 14 | 7 | 5.31 |
| Jess Jonassen | AUS | 5 | 114 | 120 | 7 | 6.16 |
If we have a look at the above table, the Indian team has a sharp edge over Australia in the bowling section.
Face To Face Battle
India won only 5 matches out of 18 matches they have played against Australia in the T20s. Besides that, Australia is 4 times Women’s T20 World cup Champions and India with 0 titles.
Australia team Probable XI
Alyssa Healy (wk), Beth Mooney, Ashleigh Gardner, Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes, Nicola Carey, Jess Jonassen, Megan Schutt, Sophie Molineux, Georgia Wareham, Delissa Kimmince
India team Probable XI
Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, Radha Yadav, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Veda Krishnamurthy, Poonam Yadav
Weather condition
There are fewer chances of rain on matchday with precipitation as less as 10%. Temperatures are expected to be around 18 to 22-degree celsius.
Key players
Australia women: Beth Mooney, Alyssa Healy, Megan Schutt
India women: Shafali Verma, Poonam Yadav, Shikha Pandey
Conclusion
So looking at the statistics and previous matches, both teams are at the same pace. Both have their own strengths. India is good at bowling and Australia is at batting. Based on these, we can expect a tough fight between both the teams.
