Cape Town: Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur may miss the game while key player and all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar has been ruled out of the semi-final against Australia on Thursday. Kaur, who has fallen sick, might skip the match, sources said, while Vastrakar has upper respiratory tract infection due to which she will not be able to participate in the game, according to the ICC.
In case of Kaur missing out on the match, Smriti Mandhana, the vice captain of the side is expected to lead the Indian team. The ICC's statement said "The Event Technical Committee of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023 has approved Sneh Rana as a replacement for Pooja Vastrakar in the India squad."
Read: PREVIEW: Patchy India will have to lift their game against unforgiving Australia
India's performance has been far from top-notch this tournament with wins coming against Pakistan, West Indies and Ireland and loss against a top England team. It's the margin of wins that puts India's performance questionable with most of the match going down to the wire. Australia are coming off a 22-match winning streak and threatens India's chances of reaching the finals of the World Cup unless the Women In Blue produces an enthralling display of skills on the ground today.
Kaur previously has always highlighted the team consuming too many dot balls and unable to capitalise on playing fearlessly. "We started really well but in the middle overs, we did not bowl according to plan and gave away too many runs. That is where we lost the momentum. We were doing well with the bat but did not get the run rate that we were looking for and that is why we lost wickets," said Harmanpreet after the match against England.
Read: Women's T20 WC: India skipper highlights dot ball issue ahead of semi-final
"World Cup games are always something where both the teams are always under pressure. I think these matches if 150 is on the board, you always [have] the upper hand. We are not putting too much pressure on ourselves. We are just going [out] there and understanding what conditions are there and just playing according to the situation. Dot balls are something which [are] already worrying us. In the next game, we would love to see some improvement in that area also," she said.
Teams (from):
India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Richa Ghosh, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya, Radha Yadav, Renuka Thakur, Anjali Sarvani, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Shikha Pandey.
Australia squad: Meg Lanning (c), Alyssa Healy, Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Grace Harris, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham.
Match starts at 6:30 PM.
