Melbourne: The stage is set for the ICC Women's T20 World Cup final between Australia and India. The mega finale will be played at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Sunday. This will be a battle between first-time finalists India and four-time champions Australia. While India sealed their place in the final without playing a ball as rain-marred their semifinal against England women, Australia defeated South Africa to march to the final for the record fifth time. India qualified for the final because they finished the group leg unbeaten.
Though rains spoiled the first semifinal between India and England in Sydney, Melbourne weather on Sunday is expected to stay clear during the course of the day. According to the weather reports, the conditions will remain 'partly cloudy' but rain will not affect the proceedings during the all-important final.
Needless to say, there is a lot of buzz building up regarding the final as the International Cricket Council (ICC) has already announced that over 75,000 tickets have been sold for the summit clash between India and Australia.
On the eve of the final, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his wishes to both India women and Australia women on Saturday.
India, who are vying for their maiden T20 title, will look forward to a superb start from their teenage sensation Shafali Verma. The Haryana girl has scored 161 runs in four innings at a strike rate of over 160 in the tournament so far.
In the bowling department, Poonam Yadav has been leading the wicket-takers' charts with 9 wickets.
