ICC Women's World Cup 2017: India to lock horns against Australia with eye on semifinal berth

The Indian team shall be taking on a formidable Australian side in a pool match at the ICC Women's World Cup at Bristol, England on Wednesday. The match is scheduled to commence at 3 pm (IST). Both teams are well placed in the top half of the points table courtesy putting up a string of wins in their opening matches.

India won their first four matches on the trot against West Indies, England, Sri Lanka and arch-rivals Pakistan before being handed their first defeat to South Africa by 115 runs in their last pool encounter.

Indians have generally gelled well as a unit with their batting coming good in most of their matches. Opener Smriti Mandhana notched up impressive half centuries in the first two games. Meanwhile skipper Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur and batsman Deepti Sharma have also made valuable contributions with the bat.

The Indian seam attack has made regular breakthroughs all through the tournament with Jhulan Goswami and Poonam Raut striking well as a pair. The spinning trio have plied their trade by making important breakthrough's for their side in the middle overs. Ekta Bisht has been particularly impressive with her match winning five wicket haul against arch rivals Pakistan. On the other side Australia have won four out of their five matches and are placed at number two in the points table.

Teams:

India Women (From): Punam Raut, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Mithali Raj(c), Harmanpreet Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy, Shikha Pandey, Sushma Verma(w), Jhulan Goswami, Ekta Bisht, Poonam Yadav, Mona Meshram, Mansi Joshi, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Nuzhat Parween

Australia Women (From): Beth Mooney, Nicole Bolton, Ellyse Perry, Meg Lanning(c), Elyse Villani, Alex Blackwell, Alyssa Healy(w), Ashleigh Gardner, Jess Jonassen, Megan Schutt, Kristen Beams, Sarah Aley, Rachael Haynes, Belinda Vakarewa, Amanda Wellington