In what continues to be a great advertisement for the imminent inaugural edition of the Women’s IPL in particular, and women’s Cricket in general, India and Australia will lock horns today during the penultimate contest of the five-match T20I series at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.
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After suffering an agonizing Super Over loss during the second T20I in front of a jam-packed DY Patil Sports Academy crowd, world champions Australia bounced back in the way they know best during the third T20I at the Brabourne Stadium, to lead the series 2-1.
After losing the in-form Alyssa Healy and the no.1 ranked T20I batter Tahlia McGrath cheaply, the experienced allrounded Ellyse Perry (75 off 47) stood tall to whack the Indian bowlers all across the ground, and perhaps come up with a statement of sorts as to how valuable she still can be in the Aussie T20 set-up.
Resultantly, along with the contribution of Grace Harris (41 off 18), she took the Aussie total to 172/8.
In reply, despite a Shafali Verma (52 off 41) show, India fell short of the target by 21 runs.
Brabourne Stadium pitch report
Akin the previous T20I, the pitch at the Brabourne Stadium on Saturday will turn out to be a batting paradise for the world class players from both the sides, thereby promising to be a run-fest yet again.
“There is not much in it for the bowlers. We have one change. In place of Meghna, Rajeswari comes in,” remarked Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur during the Toss on Thursday with regards to the pitch, while deciding to play a spinner instead.
The Red soil pitch will provide decent carry and bounce, which will thus allow the batters to play their strokes freely without any second guesses regarding the pitch behavior.
Having said that, the pace bowlers will be able to generate swing and extract bounce on this surface, as was witnessed during both the innings in the previous T20I with the new ball.
Expect the team batting first to eye on scoring anything around the 180-run mark, in order to challenge the opposition.
