Mumbai (Maharashtra): The Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian Women will be playing for pride when they take on Australian women in the third and final ODI at the iconic Wankhede Stadium here on Tuesday.
Australia Women have already clinched the series as they have taken a 2-0 lead by winning the first two games by six wickets and three runs respectively. The team from Down Under will be aiming to inflict a whitewash by winning the third and final ODI of the series.
For India skipper and seasoned batter Harmanpreet Kaur's form with the bat will be in focus. Kaur has led her side admirably well in a long home season with a couple of historic results in the Tests, but this period has also witnessed her struggle with the bat.
Harman, as he is fondly called, has scored runs in double digits only thrice in eight innings across formats this season with her highest being 49 against England in the one-off Test last month. In the historic win against Australia in the one-off Test, Kaur was out for a duck in India's first innings and she was not required to bat in the second essay. In the two ODIs against Australia, her scores were 9 and 5.
Meanwhile, if India were ordinary with the ball in the first ODI wherein they lost by six wickets even after posting their highest-ever total of 282 for 8 in the format, Kaur's side dropped as many as seven catches in the second game, as Australia got away with a three-run win.
While Richa Ghosh and Jeminah Rodrigues will be keen to carry from where they left, pressure will be on the likes of Amanjot Kaur and Deepti Sharma, who could not finish the game for India despite the equation being almost run-a-ball in the second ODI.
India Women head coach Amol Muzumdar admitted after the game that Kaur's team remains a work in progress. Muzumdar had also confirmed that Sneh Rana would be available for the final ODI after missing the second half of the last game due to a collision with Pooja Vastrakar.
India will host the 2025 Women's 50-over World Cup and with the core of the squad already determined, the task hereon would be to improve in all departments, particularly fielding.
Australia, on their part, would be keen on putting a better show in the field after dropping a few regulation chances in the last match, while big runs are awaited from skipper Alyssa Healy. Healy has been scoring in double-digit figures consistently but a big score has deserted her so far, while Australia will expect further fireworks from both Phoebe Litchfield and Ellyse Perry who have hit fifties in both the ODIs.
Squads: India: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice captain), Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Yastika Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Richa Ghosh (wicket-keeper), Amanjot Kaur, Shreyanka Patil, Mannat Kashyap, Saika Ishaque, Renuka Singh Thakur, Titas Sadhu, Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana, Harleen Deol.
Australia: Alyssa Healy (captain and wicket-keeper), Darcie Brown, Heather Graham, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney (wicket-keeper), Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham.
Match starts at 1:30 pm IST.
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