Pooja Vastrakar ruled out, Harmanpreet Kaur uncertain for T20 World Cup semi-final vs Australia

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Hours before the start of India's all-important semi-final match of the Women's T20 World Cup 2022 against Australia in Cape Town on Thursday, pacer Pooja Vastrakar has been ruled out.

In what could be another major blow, captain Harmanpreet Kaur is also uncertain of featuring in the high-octane clash. Both the players reported sick on Monday and were discharged from the hospital on Wednesday evening. The nature of the illness is not known.

Sneh Rana, one of the travelling reserves, has been approved as a replacement by the ICC Technical Committee.

According to Cricbuzz,the BCCI is monitoring Harmanpreet and a decision on her participation will be taken just ahead of the game. In case Harmanpreet fails to take the field, her deputy Smriti Mandhana will lead the squad.

Notably, in their last 11 T20I matches, India have managed to beat Australia Women only once.

Harmanpreet has failed to impress thus far in the Women's T20 World Cup. She has managed to score 66 runs from four innings. Her best score of 33 came against West Indies. Vastrakar has also been far from impressive, picking just two wickets at an average of 44.50 and an economy rate of 7.21 in four matches.

Earlier, India finsished second in the Group B to qualify for the semi-final of the marquee event. They defetated Pakistan by seven wickets to kick off their campaign before beating West Indies by six wickets. In their third match, the Women in Blue lost to England by 11 runs. India defeated Ireland by five runs (DLS method) in their last group stage match to enter the final-four round of the competition.