Live Score Updates Australia Women vs India Women 1st ODI: Mithali Raj and Co aim to make winning start – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

Australia Women Vs India Women, 1st ODI Live Cricket Score Updates: Aussies are on a 24-match winning streak in ODIs but we know that Mithali Raj-led India will not give up easily and that should make for an intriguing contest. Stay tuned for toss and team news.

1st ODI preview: India women’s cricket team will begin their difficult tour of Australia on Tuesday with the first ODI at Mackay. The hosts are on a 24-match winning streak in ODIs and clear favourites going into the series.

On the other hand, India lost their last ODI series 2-1 in June-July to England away from home. They also suffered a 4-1 defeat in the home ODI series against South Africa in March this year. Apart from aiming an upset against the mighty Australians, India will also have an eye on the ODI World Cup which will be played in New Zealand in February next year.

India captain Mithali Raj and Australia skipper Meg Lanning with the ODI series trophy. Image: Twitter/@AusWomenCricket

The team management knows that there are still many areas where India need to make quick progress. One of the biggest being their slow run rate in ODIs. India have a scoring rate of 4.3 in ODIs while Australia (5.6) and England (5) have regularly been posting 250-plus scores in the 50-over format.

They also need pacers other than Jhulan Goswami to put in consistent performances to have a bigger pool of quality fast bowlers for the World Cup.

“Moving towards the World Cup as a group, batting unit, bowling unit, we have set some targets. We want to score consistently over 250. And we are planning towards that,” said coach Ramesh Powar ahead of the first ODI.

“In bowling we are trying to get opponents all out so we are trying to use Jhulan Goswami as the experienced bowler who can give us good openings in front and senior players as always, we expect them to guide youngsters and drive the team which they are doing quite well.”

Meanwhile, India will be without Harmanpreet Kaur for the first ODI as she suffered a thumb injury in a training session. It will be interesting to see where captain Mithali will bat in Harmanpreet’s absence. Mithali has always preferred to bat at the No 3 spot but since 2019 she has come out at the No 4 spot. Critics argue that MIthali should bat at the No 3 spot as that allows her to settle down early.

Australia have not played international cricket since April and will be without top bowlers like Jess Jonassen and Megan Schutt, however, they still have a daunting batting line-up that includes players like Meg Lanning, Ashleigh Gardner, Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney.

Squads:

India: Mithali Raj (c), Harmanpreet Kaur (vc), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Punam Raut, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Shikha Pandey, Jhulan Goswami, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Richa Ghosh, Ekta Bisht.

Australia: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Darcie Brown, Maitlan Brown, Stella Campbell, Nicola Carey, Hannah Darlington, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Georgia Redmayne, Molly Strano, Annabel Sutherland, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham.