After having played the longest format of the game for the first time in seven long years, the Indian Women’s Cricket Team is all set to script history as they get ready to play their first ever Pink-ball Day/Night Test match. They face a mighty Australian Women’s team, also the hosts, in this historic event, starting Thursday, 10:00 AM (IST) at the Carrara Oval in Queensland.
The Indian Women’s team may have lost the ODI series. However, they showed some good spirit in the last two games, particularly the final game, which they won as the series ended 2-1. Earlier this year, the Indian Women’s Cricket team played a Test match against England in England. While it looked at one point that Mithali Raj & Co. would face defeat, they showed great character, determination and fight to draw the Test with a brilliant performance. The only major issue is that the Indian eves will be missing their regular vice-captain, Harmanpreet Kaur, who still remains out because of a thumb injury.
Australia, having won the ODI series, will be keen to carry the momentum as they get into the red-ball action in this multi-format tour. While it may seem that the hosts are overwhelming favourites to win, all is not as good as they would have liked it to be. Sophie Molineux and Georgia Wareham carry the spin attack, both coming in with niggles from the ODIs, in the absence of Jess Jonasen. They will also miss Rachel Haynes, who is ruled out with her hamstring.
The hosts last played Test cricket back in 2019. However, they do have previous experience of playing a Pink-ball Test, the first and only women’s Day/Night Test thus far. The Indian team hasn’t had as many instances of donning the whites and while this will be a huge challenge, so does it bring another opportunity to put up a special show on this historic occasion. Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami, two stalwarts in the Women’s game, will certainly look to make the most in particular, as they get to the fag end of their illustrious careers.
My Dream11 Team for AU-W vs IND-W Match:
Alyssa Healy, Taniya Bhatia, Mithali Raj (c), Beth Mooney (vc), Smriti Mandhana, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Deepti Sharma, Sophie Molineux, Georgia Wareham, Jhulan Goswami
Probable Playing 11
Australia Women
Meg Lanning (c), Beth Mooney, Alyssa Healy (wk), Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner, Tahlia McGrath, Nicola Carey, Darcie Brown, Annabel Sutherland, Sophie Molineux, Georgia Wareham
Probable Playing 11
India Women
Mithali Raj (c), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Punam Raut, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Meghna Singh
Squad
Australia Women
Alyssa Healy(w), Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning(c), Ellyse Perry, Tahlia McGrath, Ashleigh Gardner, Annabel Sutherland, Sophie Molineux, Georgia Wareham, Darcie Brown, Stella Campbell, Nicola Carey, Georgia Redmayne, Maitlan Brown, Molly Strano, Tayla Vlaeminck, Hannah Darlington.
India Women
Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Mithali Raj(c), Punam Raut, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Taniya Bhatia(w), Pooja Vastrakar, Jhulan Goswami, Meghna Singh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Ekta Bisht, Shikha Pandey, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Yastika Bhatia, Poonam Yadav.
