India vs Australia Semifinal Preview: In the first semi-final of T20 World Cup 2023, India is facing the current world champion Australia.
The first major test of how much the Indian cricket team has changed and improved in three years will be held in Cape Town on Thursday, 23 February. Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 When the Indian team will take the field under the captaincy of Harmanpreet Kaur in the semi-finals, it will be the same Australian team in front of them, who snatched the chance to win the title from them on 8 March 2020. It is time to take revenge for the one-sided manner in which India was defeated in the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground three years ago. Just to see whether Team India preparation is complete?
In Group-2, Team India finished second with 3 wins out of four matches. The team was defeated in just one match – against England, which finished first. Despite this, Team India’s performance was not such that it would give confidence to win against a team like Australia. However, even in the semi-finals of the 2017 ODI World Cup, no one believed and India defeated Australia. In the same way, in the first semi-final in Cape Town on Thursday, 23 February, Team India will have to improve their game a lot.
Will the empty bag be filled now?
Like the men’s cricket team, India’s women’s team has also been performing consistently well, but the title keeps distance from its bag. Once again, according to the expectations, he has entered the last four of another ICC tournament. Although the Indian team has not been able to perform well against England and Australia in the past, especially in knockout matches. Apart from the last T20 World Cup, Australia had snatched the gold medal from India after defeating them in the finals of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last year.
Shefali-Harmanpreet will have to change gear
Among the biggest problems of Team India, the inconsistency of the top order is the most important. Barring 19-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman Richa Ghosh, the failure of other batsmen to hit sixes in the middle order is also a cause for concern. The team has failed to rotate the strike and will have to reduce the percentage of dot balls in such a big match.
Opener Shafali Verma made her debut three years ago but has failed to learn from her mistakes, which include her inability to rotate strike and her shortcomings against the short ball. Captain Harmanpreet herself is under a lot of pressure, she has not been able to play any useful innings in this World Cup so far. She is one of the few batsmen who can hit the ball a long distance but she has been inconsistent for too long.
On the other hand, Jemima Rodríguez has done well in the tournament so far but more is expected of her to help the team. Star batsman Smriti Mandhana has been a consistent batsman and once again she will be key to the team against Australia.
Consistency is needed in bowling too
In the bowling department, fast bowler Renuka Thakur has been India’s best bowler in the tournament with seven wickets so far, including five for 15 against England. Deepti Sharma gave away a lot of runs in her one over against Ireland but she has been the most consistent bowler in the spin department. Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gaikwad and Radha Yadav will have to bowl more accurately against strong Australia.
Strong Australia contender again
On the other hand, the Australian team led by Meg Lanning has reached the semi-finals after winning 22 consecutive matches in T20 matches (leaving one defeat in the Super Over) and is famous for taking its game to the top level in big matches. Australia have lost just two official matches in any format after losing a T20 match to New Zealand in March 2021 and both these defeats have come against India. The Australian team won the series 4–1 in Mumbai in December.