Adelaide, February 20 India will need their top batters to perform collectively against an experienced Australian bowling group in the third and final women's T20 International to achieve a historic maiden series win in Australia, here on Saturday.
Despite registering some victories in the past, the Indian women have yet to win a bilateral series in Australia across all three formats.
To change this, India needs a better batting performance here, which starts with openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma.
Both Smriti and Shafali got starts but failed to capitalize, hindering India's relatively easy chase of 164 in the second match.
The veteran Australian trio of Kim Garth, Annabel Sutherland, and Sophie Molineux exploited this opening, dismissing five Indian batters for a mere seven runs and effectively ending the chase.
However, the Adelaide pitch offers more true conditions than its counterpart in Canberra, and the Indian batters should be able to trust their timing here. The excellent outfield also adds to the advantage.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, and Richa Ghosh enjoy hitting the ball on the bat, and they can expect some assistance here.
However, the smooth nature of the ground also puts pressure on Indian pacers – Renuka Singh, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Goud, and Amanjot Kaur – to maintain consistency, as the Australian batters can easily exploit any lapse.
In that context, young and prolific Georgia Voll is a significant threat, who has seamlessly taken over the opening role from the now-retired Meg Lanning and Alyssa Healy.
These are big shoes to fill, but the 22-year-old has been remarkable so far.
The Indian pacers will need to contain Voll, and the spinners – Deepti Sharma and Sree Charani – will also need to contribute in the middle overs.
It is essential to keep Sutherland and Ash Gardner quiet after the Powerplay segment.
Teams:
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India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana, Bharti Fulmali, Kranti Gaud, Richa Ghosh (wk), Gunalan Kamalini, Amanjot Kaur, Shreyanka Patil, Sneh Rana, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Shree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma.
Australia: Sophie Molineux (c), Tahlia McGrath, Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham.
Match starts at 1:45 pm IST.