Indian women’s team’s bowlers continue to dominate the T20 Internationals, aiming to gain an unassailable lead against Australia.

Canberra: When the Indian women’s cricket team faces Australia in the second T20 International cricket match here on Thursday, it will try to take inspiration from the brilliant performance of the fast bowlers in the first match. Fast bowler Arundhati Reddy shook Australia’s batting by taking four wickets in the first match. The Australian team could not even complete 20 overs and were out for only 133 runs. However, Indian batsmen did not get much chance to play due to rain.

India won this match on the basis of Duckworth-Lewis system in which only openers Smriti Mandhana and Shefali Verma could spend some time at the crease. But India’s batting is strong and its players have recently played in the Women’s Premier League, so they have come to Australia well prepared.

India will once again rely on the stormy start of Shafali, who performed brilliantly in the World Cup final against South Africa last year. Apart from this, Mandhana’s charismatic batting and the role of captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues will also be important. This series is very important for India in view of the Women’s T20 World Cup to be held in England this year.

Winning the three-match T20 International series will give India confidence. The performance of fast bowler Renuka Singh was encouraging, as she bowled four economical overs and took two wickets. Together with Arundhati, the pair took six wickets. This is a very good sign for India as they have been relying on spin bowlers like Deepti Sharma and Sri Charani to achieve success so far. The Australian team, led by new captain Sophie Moliny, will be desperate to take revenge and level the series. Even though her team includes world cricket legends Beth Mooney, Phoebe Littlefield, Ellyse Perry and Ashley Gardner, there will be immense pressure on Australia’s top-order batsmen.

The teams are as follows:

Australia: Sophie Moliny (captain), Tahlia McGrath, Darcey Brown, Nicola Carey, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Woll, Georgia Wareham.

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana, Bharti Phulmali, Kranti Goud, Richa Ghosh (wicketkeeper), Gunalan Kamalini, Amanjot Kaur, Shreyanka Patil, Sneha Rana, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, Jemima Rodrigues, Shefali Verma, Dipti Sharma, Sri Charni, Vaishnavi Sharma.

The match will start at 1:45 pm Indian time.