India have won just two of their seven matches against Australia at ICC events since the Derby game in 2017 reflecting the authority, dominance and psychological edge that the women from Down Under have on the Indian team.

Navi Mumbai: If India are going to get over the line against Australia on Thursday in the ICC Women’s World Cup semifinal at the DY Patil Stadium, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur holds all the aces.

The prolific Indian captain has been a thorn in Australia’s flesh ever since she played one of the most iconic knocks in Women’s World Cup history in Derby in 2017 where she smashed an incredible 171 off 115 balls to break Australia’s aura of invincibility.

However, since that game India’s and Harmanpreet’s fortunes have been a story of agonizing near misses.

Losing the ODI World Cup final in 2017 and T20 World Cup summit clash in 2020 created mental blocks that are yet to be eliminated.

India have won just two of their seven matches against Australia at ICC events since the Derby game in 2017 reflecting the authority, dominance and psychological edge that the women from Down Under have on the Indian team.

With India relying a lot on their top order to fire, it all depends on how the likes of Harmanpreet, Smriti Mandhana and the newly drafted in opener Shafali Verma come to the fore in the all-important semifinal.

Shafali has come in after an ankle injury to the in-form Pratika Rawal and the 21-year-old knows she has to get her act together quickly.

Having played three T20 World Cups and an ODI World Cup, the young lass is no stranger to the big stage and relishes the pressure to perform on the grandest of occasions.

She looked the part at training on Tuesday evening taking throwdowns and defending well. Driving, reverse sweeping and using her feet to good effect against the team’s spinners.

The Indian batters will have to have a hugely dominant day and that’s a very essential pre-requisite but what will be equally required is enormous mental resilience and killer instinct.

India Women’s team have been woeful on that front for a very long time and will have to rectify that aspect.

To get a sense of what they are up against, Australia since the start of the 2017 ODI Women’s World Cup have a record of having played 87 matches and won 78 of them.

That also includes their world record streak of winning 26 ODIs in a row.

Harmanpreet Kaur & Co will have to conjure the magic of Derby 2017 once again or perhaps go one up on it to play a dream World Cup final in front of a teeming home crowd at the DY Patil Stadium.

Teams (from):

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Uma Chetry, Harleen Deol, Kranti Gaud, Richa Ghosh, Amanjot Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Sneh Rana, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Shree Charani, Radha Yadav.

Australia: Alyssa Healy (capt), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham