After a brilliant performance against England in the test match, India will be facing Australia in a multi-format series. The two teams will first clash in a one-off test match scheduled to begin on 21st December at the Wankhede Stadium.
India won the test last week by a huge margin of 347 runs and thrashed the visitors. Taking lessons from it, the Aussies have had training sessions and have played a practice match to get acclimatized to the conditions and to better understand the behavior of the surface. The team looked in good touch in the match against Mumbai.
Batting first, they posted 261 runs in 50 overs. Both Beth Mooney and Alyssa Healy scored fifties. Mooney was in good form and built a 101-run opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield who scored 43. Amongst the bowlers, the pacers performed well but the spinners struggled. In particular, Lauren Cheatle shined with the ball and took a 4 wicket haul. She is likely to earn a spot in the playing XI on Thursday.
On the pitch, Mooney said, “It probably didn’t turn as much as we thought it might, (but) I guess the wicket will deteriorate over the few days of the Test match. I thought the pace bowlers certainly got the most of the conditions early and were seaming it around a bit and swinging it … hopefully, if we happen to bowl first (on Thursday) our seamers can do that.”
While the team is not sure about how the conditions will be on Thursday, they have plans in place and feel, “really well-prepared going into the games,” said vice captain Tahila McGrath. India has a formidable bowling attack and McGrath said that the team has strategies in place to combat that.
“The biggest key about batting in India is (a) you have got to be really clear on the plan. Before you go out there, you got to know how you’re going to play the conditions. And (b), you’ve got to stick to your strengths individually as a batter. That is going to look differently for all our batters, how we approach that,” she said. She also spoke about the strength and variety of the Aussie bowling attack.
Tahlia McGrath and Alyssa Healy are all set to take on leadership duties for Australia. #CricketTwitter #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/pVI5ponG9M
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) December 19, 2023
She said, “It is a tough job for Midge (captain Alyssa Healy) because she has got bowling options but if you look at out-and-out pace we have got people that can swing the ball, leg-spin, off-spin, left-arm… we have got so many options (that) we can combat anything we need to.” Adding on, she spoke about the advantages of having many all-rounders in the team and the flexibility that it gives them in the playing XI.
Both teams are strong and the match promises to be a thrilling one. The test is scheduled to take place between 21st to 24th December at the Wankhede Stadium.
(Quotes sourced from cricket.com.au and PTI)
Vaishnavi is a passionate author with an unwavering love for cricket, particularly women’s cricket. Her writing reflects her deep admiration for the sport and her dedication to promoting women’s participation in it. When she’s not following the latest cricket matches, Vaishnavi can be found engrossed in books or enjoying movies.