Tahlia McGrath leads Australia, opts to bat first against India in ICC Women's T20 World Cup; Alyssa Healy misses game due to acute foot injury

Oct 13, 2024

Sharjah [UAE], October 13 : Australia women's stand in captain Tahlia McGrath won the toss and opted to bat first against India in the ongoing ICC Women's T20 World Cup in Sharjah on Sunday.
Australia will miss Alyssa Healy as she had an "acute injury to her right foot". The skipper arrived in crutches for the clash against India in Sharjah, as per ICC.
"We are gonna bat first, put up a score on the board. This is third game here, looks like a slightly better surface than the previous ones. No concern about injuries right now with all the focus on the game. We have two changes - Grace Harris and Darcie Brown are in," McGrath said after winning the toss.
She highlighted that the surface looks better than the earlier ones at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
"It's absolutely fine, we have to bowl them out for a low total and chase it down. It's our first game here, we have watched many games on TV and we have our plans. We have beaten them in the past too and we can again do that. One change for us - Pooja (Vastrakar) comes in for Sajana," Indian skipper Kaur said.
She is hopeful that they can beat Australia, as they did it earlier as well.
Australia Women (Playing XI): Beth Mooney(w), Grace Harris, Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath(c), Georgia Wareham, Annabel Sutherland, Sophie Molineux, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown
India Women (Playing XI): Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh(w), Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Asha Sobhana, Renuka Thakur Singh.