Two powerhouses of the global game – India and Australia – lock heads in the first of two Women’s T20 World Cup semifinals on Thursday.

In the final of the previous T20 World Cup, in Australia in 2020, the Aussies smashed India by 85 runs in front of a record 86,174 supporters in Melbourne.

Thursday’s clash is smaller in comparison but no less important, especially for India who will be keen to exact revenge on their foes.

“We always enjoy whenever we play against Australia and no matter, you know, we play against them in semis or any other tournament, we always want to give 100%,” India captain Harmanpreet Kaur told the media this week.

“Because whenever you do well against Australia, you always get good confidence. And it will be a very crucial game for both the teams. We just want to go and enjoy our cricket.”

India cruised past Pakistan, West Indies and Ireland in the group stages but fell to England by 11-runs to finish second in group two, setting up their meeting with top-of-group-one and undefeated Australia.

The teams met in December in a five-match T20 series in Mumbai where Australia came through as 4-1 victors but the Indians pushed the side from Down Under close in every one of the four defeats.

Ashleigh Gardner of Australia during the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup match between South Africa and Australia at St George’s Park on 18 February 2023 in Gqeberha. (Photo by Richard Huggard / Gallo Images)

“I think that series gave us a lot of confidence, you know, the brand of cricket we played in that particular series was something which gave us a lot of confidence,” said Kaur.

“We know their strength, their weakness, we know what we have to do. So when you play a bilateral series, that always gives you a lot of confidence [so you know] the areas where you have to improve as a team.”

Dominant Aussies

Australia have only lost two matches, in any format, since March 2021. Interestingly, both defeats were at the hands of India.

While it would be a stretch to call India Australia’s bogey team, they have got the rub of the green over them more than any other team in recent history.

“I’m expecting it to be a huge contest, they’ve pushed us significantly in the last few years, and they have a bunch of match winners in that line-up as well,” Aussie opening batter Beth Mooney told reporters in Cape Town on Tuesday.

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“We’re not expecting it to be easy by any means, whether it’s with a bat or the ball, but we certainly know the style of play they’ve come at us with in the past and they know ours pretty well, too.

“There won’t be any surprises, I don’t think, come Thursday afternoon.”

Sneh Rana of India during the Women’s T20I Tri-Series final against South Africa at Buffalo Park in East London on 2 February 2023. (Photo: Michael Sheehan / Gallo Images)

Harleen Deol of India bats against South Africa in the T20I Tri-Series final. (Photo: Michael Sheehan / Gallo Images)

The Aussies have been at their dominant best in this World Cup so far. They’ve beaten New Zealand by 97 runs, Bangladesh by eight wickets, Sri Lanka by 10 and South Africa by six.

Australia also beat India twice at last year’s Commonwealth Games, once in the group stage and then scraping past them in the final to clinch the gold medal by nine runs.

“I think if we do all the right things sort of at training, hopefully we can come into that game feeling really confident,” added Mooney.

“But as we know, everyone’s starting from scratch, and no one’s got any points leading into that first semi, so we know we’ve got to be on our game from ball one.”

The highly anticipated clash starts at 3pm on Thursday afternoon at Newlands in Cape Town. DM