IND W vs AUS W first ODI Preview | World Cup looms large as both sides look to gain psychological edge
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India Women will host Australia Women in the first of the three-match ODI series at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in New Chandigarh on Sunday. This will be the last pit stop for both sides ahead of the World Cup, set to start in India and Sri Lanka on September 30.
Hosts India will be brimming with confidence after their successful white-ball tour of England, where they pocketed both the T20I and the ODI series. The Women in Blue have been in sizzling form this year, winning nine of their 50-over games and losing just two. Apart from the England tour, they also won a home series against Ireland before winning the tri-series in Sri Lanka, which also included the South African women.
Meanwhile, Australia are playing an ODI game for the first time in eight months after their 3-0 whitewash of England in the Women’s Ashes at the start of this year. However, the seven-time world champions are yet to lose a game across formats since their semifinal exit to South Africa in the T20 World Cup in October last year.
India have dominated the batting charts in ODIs in 2025 with the opening duo of Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal being placed first and second in the overall list. Mandhana has 628 runs from 11 matches at an average of 57.09 with two hundreds and fifties, while Pratika has accumulated 569 runs at 56.90. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who made her first 50-plus score of the year during her match-winning century against England in the third ODI, is also back in form after a middling start to the season.
On the bowling front, the off-spin duo of Sneh Rana and Deepti Sharma have the most wickets among Indian bowlers. Sneh has 18 wickets from eight games at an average of 17.22, while Deepti has picked 13 in 11 innings. With the addition of talented youngsters like Kranti Goud and Shree Charani, India looks primed to challenge the all-rounder-heavy Aussie line-up.
Australia Women are clear favourites in this fixture with a dominant head-to-head record of 46 wins to 10 losses. They came out on top the last time these sides met with a 3-0 clean sweep in December last year.
The Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Cricket Stadium will be hosting its first international game, and the strip is expected to be flat, with the afternoon start also bringing in dew into play later in the game.
The weather in Mullanpur is expected to be sunny and humid apart from some passing showers with temperatures ranging around 34 degrees. It will get slightly cooler as the day-night game progresses, with temperatures falling to 26 degrees under lights.
India are expected to maintain their core side for the Australia series with medium pacer Renuka Singh making a much-anticipated return while Australia will once again pack the side with all-rounders, who provide the balance and depth to their side.
Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Shree Charani, Kranti Goud, Renuka Singh.
Alyssa Healy (c & wk), Phoebe Litchfield, Georgia Voll, Beth Mooney, Ashleigh Gardner, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland, Megan Schutt, Georgia Wareham, Darcie Brown
The IND W vs AUS W first ODI match will be digitally streamed on the Jio Hotstar app and website in India, with live telecast on Star Sports Network from 1:30 PM IST on Sunday.
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