Women in Blue meet a formidable Australian facet

Not far-off from these famed inexperienced paddy fields of Punjab, right here within the village of Mullanpur is the luxurious inexperienced outfield of the PCA Stadium. Yet one other spanking new Indian cricket floor is making its worldwide debut, on Sunday.

The stadium, which has been Punjab Kings’ residence since final 12 months’s IPL, is the venue for the primary two matches of the ladies’s ODI sequence between India and Australia. With the World Cup only a fortnight away, these matches are an ideal gown rehearsal for the groups.

For Alyssa Healy’s ladies, it is a perfect alternative to play as a gaggle after a reasonably lengthy break. Their final worldwide match was in March, the T20 sequence in New Zealand.

The Indians, although, have performed a whole lot of cricket lately. And they performed a whole lot of good cricket, too: in England, the place they received each the ODI and T20I sequence.

They are up towards a a lot stronger opposition, although. These Aussie ladies are a bunch of world-beaters — Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney, Ashleigh Gardner, Tahlia McGrath, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Healy — who’ve been far too dominant. Like they have been towards England earlier this 12 months, profitable all of the three ODIs, three T20Is, and the one-off Test within the ladies’s Ashes Down Under.

With a number of of their stars having loads of the WPL expertise, they’re acquainted with the circumstances, too. They have additionally had some nice occasions within the bilateral sequence towards the Indians.

India’s final win towards Australia in an ODI was 4 years in the past, at Mackay. The host might be actually eager to attain one other victory towards this gifted facet.

The class and expertise of captain Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, the promise of Kranti Goud and M. Shree Charani and the return of Renuka Singh give India causes to imagine.

The groups: India: Harmanpreet Kaur (Capt.), Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud, Sayali Satghare, Radha Yadav, Renuka Singh, M. Shree Charani, Sneh Rana and Uma Chetry.

Australia: Alyssa Healy (Capt.), Tahlia McGrath, Nicole Faltum, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Alana King, Charli Knott, Phoebe Litchfield, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll and Georgia Wareham.