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The Mithali Raj-led facet have matches in opposition to Pakistan and Australia comprehensively however they suffered crushing defeats to New Zealand and England within the group stage up to now.
In all 4 matches, their batting has oscillated between very excessive and low extremes. Amidst their inconsistent marketing campaign, India now sq. off in opposition to six-time World Cup winners, Australia, who’re on a constant, undefeated run within the match, at Eden Park on Saturday.
It will even be the primary time the 2 groups will meet in a 50-over World Cup match because the semifinal of the 2017 version at Derby, the place Harmanpreet Kaur’s whirlwind 171 served because the knockout punch for Australia.
A win in opposition to Australia would set India’s marketing campaign on monitor to succeed in the semifinals as they face Bangladesh and South Africa afterwards. In the run-up to the World Cup, India’s batting appeared stronger than their bowling within the bilateral sequence in opposition to New Zealand.
But within the mega occasion, the tables have turned with bowling wanting sturdy whereas the batting has emerged with weak hyperlinks.
For now, the Mithali Raj-led facet has to make sure that the up-and-down batting performances and shedding wickets in a heap needs to be averted in opposition to an Australia bowling assault which has bowled out New Zealand and West Indies for 128 and 131 respectively in its final two matches.
Collapses of 114/6, 95/5, 78/3 and 86/7 convey that in each victory and defeat, India have been hampered by this nagging challenge, acknowledged by Smriti Mandhana in her pre-match briefing.
Left-handed Mandhana, India’s main run-getter up to now within the match with 216 runs, thinks stitching partnerships might be a key in fixing the collapse downside.
If India are capable of keep away from the wobble in high and center order, then they are going to want runs collectively from the batting order. Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur have been among the many runs however the identical can’t be stated of Mithali Raj and Deepti Sharma.
Mithali moved as much as three from 4 whereas Deepti took her captain’s place however the duo haven’t acquired the runs in 4 matches. It stays to be seen if an out-of-form Shafali Verma will are available in or India will stick to left-handed Yastika Bhatia.
On the opposite hand, Australia have gotten little or no to fret about. Rachael Haynes is in good kind, main the run-scoring charts with 277 runs. Alyssa Healy and Meg Lanning might be trying to be extra constant whereas Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner, Tahlia McGrath and Beth Mooney have clicked nicely.
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