India aims for a commanding victory while Australia deals with injuries

Kolkata: India's path to the T20 World Cup semi-finals rests on a comprehensive victory against Australia in their final league match at Sharjah. Australia, with a net run rate of 2.786 and 6 points, are almost certain of a semi-final berth. Meanwhile, New Zealand, after a convincing eight-wicket win over Sri Lanka, sit in third place with 4 points and have the advantage of knowing exactly what they need to do to surpass India in the standings. India must aim for a significant win to keep their semi-final hopes alive and outshine New Zealand in the race for the last four.

The top spot, and thus an automatic semi-final entry, can be guaranteed if India win by more than 61 runs. Anything less than that and India will have to hope New Zealand’s margin of victory against Pakistan isn’t big. of this will matter if Australia defeat India, as their overwhelming record at this level suggests.

But Australia are in the middle of a personnel crisis right now, with promising fast bowler Tayla Vlaeminck ruled out with a right shoulder dislocation during a fielding incident and captain Alyssa Healy suffering “an acute right foot injury” while batting on 37 in their match against Pakistan on Friday.

If Healy can’t play, Australia will need a new captain, a new wicketkeeper — Beth Mooney could be asked to fill in — and a new opening batter. All-rounder Tahlia McGrath however is confident that Australia have the squad depth to cope with this crisis. “The thing about this Australian side is how much depth we’ve got,” she said after Friday’s nine-wicket win.

“Captaincy point of view, wicket-keeping, we’ve got so much depth… time to use it.” The usual refrain in such circumstances is that teams want to focus on themselves more than their opponents. But if Australia are forced to change their winning combination, India are bound to get some advantage.

Which is an edge they would like to go in with at Sharjah, where an India team will play an international match after almost 24 years. With the pitch traditionally playing slower there, spinners are expected to come into play earlier, and stay longer than usual. But the onus will still be on India’s batters — particularly on their top-four — to put runs on the board.

Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana got contrasting fifties in the last win against Sri Lanka but opener Shafali Verma and No.4 Jemimah Rodrigues haven’t exactly converted their starts till now. It isn’t worrying from India’s perspective though, said Verma.

“We have a good team right now and that’s because we don’t just go in predetermined,” Verma said on Star Sports. “Whoever looks in good touch on that particular day, we just try to rotate the strike and let them play as many deliveries as possible. And yeah, she’s (Mandhana) hitting the spinners quite well, so that’s a positive sign. We just try to give a good start which in turn produces good innings and ultimately we are able to put a good score on the board. So, our aim is just to do well for our team and back our strength.”

The conditions in the UAE probably got to India during their defeat to New Zealand in their opening game, but India have adapted quickly and effectively. “We try to take the first run fast. It’s very difficult to hit a six. But we are looking forward to taking quick singles,” said Verma.

Sharjah will be different from Dubai — where India were playing so far — and the slower pitch will make stroke play more difficult. This is where Kaur’s innovative hitting or Verma’s power could come useful, something Australia head coach Shelley Nitschke is aware of.

“They are going to come pretty hard at us like they normally do as that is their style of play,” Nitschke said.

“We are certainly going to have to be pretty tight, definitely in the Powerplay with the ball. There are areas of the game we still need to tighten up as I think they will really exploit that if we don’t. It’s just a matter of re-assessing, being honest about our performances regardless of the scoreline and making sure we are really tight with them as we know how good a team they are.”

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