Australia Women vs India Women 1st T20I: Probable Playing XIs, Dream11 Fantasy Tips, When and Where to Watch

Queensland, Oct 6: Indian women's cricket team under the leadership of Harmanpreet Kaur will take on Australia in the first T20I of the three-match series on Thursday (October 7) at the Carrara Oval, Queensland. The T20I series is going to be the last phase of an exciting multi-format rubber between the two sides.

After losing the ODI series 2-1 under the leadership of Mithali Raj the Indians bounced back in style as they ended up dominating their maiden Day/Night Test which ended in a draw. Under Mithali's leadership, the Indian eves showed great character and resolve to bounce back in style in the one-off Test played in Gold Coast.

Overall India and Australia have faced each other in 20 T20Is. The Women in Yellow have won 14 of them while lost six games against the Women In Blue. Indian women, however, enjoy a better win record against Aussies in the latter's backyard. So far India and Australia have played nine T20Is Down Under and won four of them and lost five.

Openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma emerged as the standout performers for the Indians' upfront in the Test match after showcasing their skill and talent in the ODI series. In the shortest format too, the team will be hoping for a solid start from the destructive duo.

T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur - who missed the ODIs and the one-off Test due to injury - will be aiming to make Team India's middle-order strong along with Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Yastika Bhatia, Harleen Deol and Richa Ghosh. It will be interesting to see who all get to make it to India's Playing XI in the opening T20I.

While there will also be stiff competition between the bowlers to make the cut in the side. Shikha Pandey, Poonam Yadav, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Arundhati Reddy, Sneh Rana, Radha Yadav will be eyeing a spot in playing eleven on Thursday.

India captain Harmanpreet has claimed that her side will go all out and win the T20I series at any cost after the ODI series ended in Australia's favour despite close finishes.

"It is unfortunate that I missed the ODIs and Tests but if I had more days between ODIs and the Test match, I could have recovered and played. But it is past now.

"We now just want to go all out and win the series at any cost. These three matches are very important for us," said Harmanpreet.

Australia are the defending T20I World Champions and would be aiming to make a winning start against the Indians. Aussie captain Meg Lanning has already stated that her side will comprise an all-rounder-heavy XI against India.

"There'll be a couple of changes I think," Lanning said. "It's been spoken about Tayla (Valeminck) being available which is really exciting, so we'll have a look at (the wicket) and see if that makes an impact on selection in terms of bowling.

"We've chatted a little bit at selection about whether we want to stick with that specialist batter or whether we feel like we've got enough coverage with those allrounders," said Lanning ahead of the T20I series.

Here are the match details for the 1st T20I:

Venue - Carrara Oval, Queensland

Time - 02:10 PM IST

Where to watch live - Sony Sports Network, Live Streaming at SonyLiv

Probable XIs:

Australia Women: Alyssa Healy (w), Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning (c), Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Georgia Wareham, Annabel Sutherland, Darcie Brown, Tayla Vlaeminck.

India Women: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (w), Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana, Shikha Pandey, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad.

Australia squad: Meg Lanning (c), Darcie Brown, Maitlan Brown, Stella Campbell, Nicola Carey, Hannah Darlington, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Georgia Redmayne, Molly Strano, Annabel Sutherland, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham

India T20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Shikha Pandey, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Richa Ghosh (wk), Harleen Deol, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Renuka Singh.

Dream11 Fantasy Picks:

Batters: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Meg Lanning, Tahlia McGrath

Bowlers: Poonam Yadav, Sophie Molineux, Tayla Vlaeminck, Annabel Sutherland

All-rounders: Ashleigh Gardner, Ellyse Perry

Wicketkeeper: Alyssa Healy

Captain: Ellyse Perry

Vice-Captain: Smriti Mandhana