Harmanpreet Kaur’s team has made history by reaching the final of T20 World Cup for the first time in 11 years. Now the team is looking to write a new chapter of Indian women’s cricket by becoming the world champion on Women’s Day.
The host team is again on its way to become the world champion for the first time by defeating four-time record winner Australia and making a strong start to the tournament.
India have a heavy upper hand over beating Australia in the league stage. Indian players are fully prepared for this final match to be held at Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia.
16-year-old Shefali Verma’s aggressive batting has contributed to India’s success. Verma will be expected to make a stormy start again, if Shefali did not do well then it would have been difficult for India to score competitive in the group stage as the middle and lower order batsmen could not contribute much.
Shefali’s bat has yielded 161 runs in four matches at an average of 40.
Leg-spinner Poonam Yadav made a comeback with a finger injury. She has taken nine wickets so far and is at the top of the wicket-taker’s pace with Australian fast bowler Megan Scutt.
Fast bowler Shikha Pandey has also been impressive while left-arm spinners Radha Yadav and Rajeshwari Gaikwad have also bowled a lot.
It will be interesting to see how the Australian batsmen face Poonam as they could not face him in the first match.
Over 75,000 tickets have been sold and further it is expected to reach a total of 90,000, which will be termed as unforeseen in women’s cricket.
The Meg Lenning-led Australian team is committed to doing well in front of a home audience.
The audience will also include the lead bowler of his men’s team, Mitchell Starc, who has left the South African tour midway to cheer for his home team and his wife Alyssa Healy.
