On July 29, at Edgbaston in Birmingham, the opening match of the Commonwealth Games 2022 will feature Australia vs. India. With a lot of potential game-winners on their side, The Women in Yellow will start as the favorites to win. After taking home the WODI World Cup this year, the team led by Meg Lanning will aim to win another competition.
India, on the other hand, will be aiming to put up a spirited showing against an Australian team playing at full strength. The Women in Blue are brimming with confidence after a fantastic series victory in both ODIs and T20Is against Sri Lanka. The team led by Harmanpreet Kaur will strive to get off to a strong start in the competition.
How the pitch will play?
The Edgbaston surface has historically proven favorable for batting, and so far in T20Is at the stadium, the teams batting first have crushed the opposition. According to the venue’s past performances, the captain who chooses to bat first will do so.
What to expect in the middle?
The Australian side surely knows how to score runs. They have shown brilliant back-to-back performances and adjusting to the English climate will not be hard for them. We can expect them to score 150+ runs.
The Indian side has good batters too who can give tough competition to Australia’s bowling department. We can expect them to score 140+ runs.
AUS-W vs IND-W Probable Playing XIs:
Australia Women:
Alyssa Healy (wk), Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning (c), Ellyse Perry, Tahlia McGrath, Rachael Haynes, Ashleigh Gardner, Nicola Carey, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Megan Schutt
India Women:
Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Harleen Deol, Renuka Singh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav
India vs Australia CWG 2022 Opener Match: Who will win?
If India were to win a medal in the competition, a lot hinges on a solid core of Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, and Deepti Sharma. With Yastika Bhatia, the wicketkeeper, and Sneh Rana, who was rested for the Sri Lanka series, India has an excellent balance of young and experienced players.
However, Australia’s team consists of the same individuals who won the T20 World Cup at home and, more recently, the Women’s Cricket World Cup in New Zealand. The elite all-rounder Ellyse Perry hasn’t been a likely starter in the T20I playing eleven due to their depth, which is the envy of all nations. Expect Australia to continue playing dominantly despite the absence of Matthew Mott, who has moved on to coach England’s men’s white-ball team, and Ben Sawyer, who is now the head coach of New Zealand’s women’s team.
The expansion of Meg Lanning and her team’s legacy will be achieved by taking home a gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. However, they will be competing against an enthusiastic Indian team that is in the post-Mithali Raj-Jhulan Goswami era and with a killing attitude, so Australia should expect them to put up a fight in yet another major competition.
