IND-W vs AUS-W: Alyssa Healy misses out as Tahila McGrath's Australia opt to bat, Vastrakar back for India Women

IND-W vs AUS-W: Australia Women won the toss and elected to bat first against India Women in the crucial Group A fixture of the Women's Asia Cup 2024 on Sunday, October 13.

Australia Women regular captain Alyssa Healy has been ruled out due to a foot injury she suffered in the last match against Pakistan. Tahila McGrath would lead the defending champions in the match.

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Pooja Vastrakar has returned and will play in place of Sajeevan Sajana in the must-win game for India Women. Vastrakar was out with injury after featuring in her team's tournament opener against New Zealand.

India Women desperately need to win the game to keep their semi-finals hopes alive. India are currently placed second in Group A on the basis of a superior Net Run Rate (NRR) than third-placed New Zealand Women.

An outright 61-run win against Group A table-toppers Australia will see India automatically qualify for the semi-finals, and the result of Monday's Group A match between New Zealand Women and Pakistan Women will not be their concern.

If they lose by less than 16 runs, their Net Run Rate (NRR) of +0.576 will remain ahead of New Zealand, but then they would have to hope that Pakistan beat New Zealand.

As per the second scenario, India Women will be through to the semi-finals if they beat Australia by 20 runs, and hope that New Zealand's victory margin over Pakistan is not more than 37 runs. This could be the best possible semi-finals qualification scenario for India Women.

India Women and Australia have played 34 T20I matches against each other till date. India Women have managed to win only seven of them. The Women in Blue have also lost four of their last five T20I matches against Australia.

India Women Playing 11 vs Australia Women: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, Pooja Vastrakar, Shreyanka Patil, Asha Sobhana, Renuka Thakur Singh

Australia Women Playing 11 vs India Women: Beth Mooney(w), Grace Harris, Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath(c), Georgia Wareham, Annabel Sutherland, Sophie Molineux, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown