Perth, March 5 After struggling in the ODIs, the Indian women's cricket team will expect their senior players to perform inspiringly when they face Australia in the first day-night Test in nearly five years, starting here on Friday.
India will be confident after remaining unbeaten in their last five Tests. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side won three consecutive Tests between December 2023 and July 2024, defeating England, Australia, and South Africa respectively, but all those wins came on home soil.
India's last two overseas Tests ended in draws against England and Australia in 2021. The match against Australia in September-October of that year was a day-nighter that the visitors drew. A major highlight of that match was Smriti Mandhana, who scored her second of her two Test centuries at that time.
The pink ball Test will conclude the multi-format series between the two rivals. India won the T20Is before being blanked in the ODIs, giving Australia an 8-4 lead in the points tally.
While two points each were on offer for T20 and ODI wins, the winner of the Test will get four points for an outright win. Australia would claim the overall honours if they are able to draw the match, but for India, a win would be needed to end on level terms in the final standings.
The Indians will take confidence from the fact that they created history by winning their first-ever Test against Australia by eight wickets at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai in December 2023.
While the onus will be on senior players like Harmanpreet, her deputy Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, and Deepti Sharma to share the responsibility in batting, focus will also be on stylish right-hander Pratika Rawal, who is expected to make her Test debut on Friday.
Rawal is one of the seven uncapped India players named for the day-night Test at the WACA Ground.
The Indian squad is a mix of youth and experience with seven uncapped players in the Test line-up, including 20-year-old left-arm spinner Vaishnavi Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Sayali Satghare, and Kashvee Gautam.
Both Kranti Gaud and Amanjot Kaur were a part of India's World Cup-winning ODI team and could make their Test debuts on Friday.
However, the visitors will miss the services of experienced medium pacer Renuka Singh, who has been rested as part of her workload management. In her place, young quick Kashvee Gautam has been included.
Australia, on the other hand, will look to give a grand farewell to their captain Alyssa Healy, who will be playing her 299th and final international match.
Australia has also included a few uncapped players in Rachel Trenaman and Maitlan Brown in their squad following the quad injuries to Kim Garth and Ellyse Perry, and the back problem of Sophie Molineux.
While both Garth and Molineaux have been ruled out of the match, Australia are hoping that Perry will recover in time.
Teams:
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India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Kashvee Gautam, Sneh Rana, Amanjot Kaur, Uma Chetry (wk), Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Kranti Gaud, Vaishnavi Sharma, Sayali Satghare.
Australia: Alyssa Healy (c&wk), Darcie Brown, Maitlan Brown, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland, Rachel Trenaman, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham.
Match starts at 10:50am IST.
