The Harmanpreet Kaur-led India will take on Australia in the 2020 Women's T20 World Cup opener in Sydney on Friday. India look solid on paper but getting through to the semifinals will be a demanding task considering they are placed with Australia, Bangladesh, New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Group A.

Ground details and team combination

Fast bowlers have a better record at this venue than spinners. They have picked up a wicket every 23.3 balls as compared to spinners who have a strike-rate of 28.8. However, both pacers and spinners have economy of way below 7 at this ground.

Among the different bowler types, legspinners with a strike-rate of 15.6 have been the most successful here. The likes of Poonam Yadav and Georgia Wareham could be considered for this game. Right-arm seamers too have a decent record here and there are quite a few options available in that department to pick from.

Captain selection:

She can bat. She can bowl. She can field. Ellyse Perry is any fantasy cricket player’s dream. The 29-year-old is unarguably the best all-rounder going around and has solid numbers in all facets of the game. Perry has been in pretty good form of late with both bat and bowl. Perry averages over 40 with the bat since 2019 and has also picked up wickets at regular intervals. Also, no other bowlers have picked up more wickets than Perry (36) in this tournament and she has always done well against India in T20Is. 

X-Factors:

Beth Mooney has scored the most number of runs for Australia since 2019. The left-handed opener was also outstanding in the recently concluded T20I tri-series against India and England in which she scored 208 runs at an average of 52. She averages over 38 against India in this format and will be key to Australia's chances in this tournament.

The stylish left-handed opener Smriti Mandhana has been in the form of her life of late. No other batter has scored more runs than Mandhana (621) in T20Is since 2019. She also loves playing Australia. She has scored 374 runs against the Aussies at an average of 46.75 and a strike rate of 136.99. Mandhana was the highest run-scorer in the tri-series and will try to build on that form.

Leg-spinner Poonam Yadav is India's highest wicket-taker in T20Is. Poonam is the captain's go-to bowler and more often than not does the job for her team. She didn't play a single game in the tri-series because of a finger injury but will lead India's spin department in the World T20. Poonam has taken the most number of wickets in T20Is since 2018. She took 3 for 20 in the warm-up game against West Indies and helped India defend 107 runs.

Suggested team:

Beth Mooney, Smriti Mandhana (vc), Alyssa Healy (wk), Shafali Verma, Rachael Haynes, Ellyse Perry (c), Deepti Sharma, Megan Schutt, Jess Jonassen, Poonam Yadav, Pooja Vastrakar.