The ebb and flow of India's World Cup campaign

One of the most-awaited clashes in this edition of the Women's World Cup, Australia locked horns with arch-rivals India on a cloudy afternoon at Eden Park in Auckland. 

The match was touted to be a closely contested affair despite the two sides being on the opposite ends of the spectrum as far as consistency is concerned, and it certainly lived up to all the hype and expectations as Australia edged past the Women in Blue by six wickets in a high-scoring thriller. 

On a windy afternoon with a fresh wicket on offer, Meg Lanning had no hesitation in asking India to bat first. After a disappointing loss against England in their last league match, the Indian side drafted Shafali Verma in the XI, replacing Deepti Sharma. 

While the move seemed to have worked for some time as Shafali kickstarted her innings with a boundary and a massive six down the ground to showcase her intentions despite losing the wicket of Mandhana in the fourth over. 

However, one of the areas she has to work on is her ability to negotiate the short-pitched delivery. After a barrage of short deliveries, the right-handed batter backed away from her stumps and guided it straight into the hands of Beth Mooney at gully. In the five innings played thus far by the Women in Blue, they have lost 10 wickets in the first powerplay and scored at an average of 19.7 runs per wicket, the lowest among all the teams.

With the conditions conducive for stroke play, lack of partnerships at the top of the order results in the Indian side being unable to use the field restrictions and get off to a flying start early in the innings. 

Masterclass on how to build a partnership 

Despite losing two early wickets with only 28 runs in the first six overs, Yastika Bhatia and Mithali Raj consolidated the innings with a sublime 130-run stand in 154 deliveries for the third wicket, the highest third-wicket partnership for India in the history of the mega event.

Enroute to this stand, the duo notched up half-centuries to lay a solid foundation for the side in their bid to post a massive first innings total.  In a mid-innings interview, Yastika Bhatia shared insights on her partnership with the skipper said, "We had lost two early wickets, and we wanted to steady the innings. I had a chat with Mithali, and we thought four to five runs in an over are fine. 

The southpaw was batting a position down after opening the innings in the last three games, but the youngster feels she was well-prepared for the challenge heading into this high-voltage clash. 

"I have batted at No. 3 in the past series and also in the domestic circuit, so when I was informed by the coaches yesterday, I was prepared for this role," she further added. 

Displaying an array of strokes all around the ground, the duo enthralled the fans with a masterclass on how to stitch a partnership after early blows before the southpaw was dismissed for 59 studded with six boundaries.

India ought to maximise the momentum

With Harmanpreet Kaur striding out to the middle, memories of the 2017 World Cup came flashing back to all the fans. While the vice-captain started accumulating the ones and the twos, the 32-year old kept losing partners at the other end as India lost Mithali for 68 runs along with Richa Ghosh and Sneh Rana in the space of five overs. 

The Women in Blue have been guilty of losing a flurry of wickets against the Aussies and have a balls per wicket ratio of 34.9, the worst against any opposition since the 2017 World Cup with a minimum of three innings. 

Harmanpreet Kaur and her love playing against Australia

With the onus of the side replying heavily on Harmanpreet, the right-handed batter unleashed her destructive play and smashed the bowling unit of Australia all around the ground en route to her unbeaten knock of 57 off 47 deliveries, with six boundaries to power the side to 277 runs in the first innings. 

In the 14 matches against Australia, Harmanpreet amassed 563 runs at an average of 51.18, the best for her against any opposition and the only team she has an average of over 50 runs per game. 

Australia's rare off day with the ball

One of the areas of concern for the Aussie side in this game is the number of extras conceded by the team. While Ellyse Perry, with her one over that conceded 16 runs, the wides never seemed to have stopped as Australia bowled 24 wides and the total number of extras mounted to 29, the third most for them in a World Cup game. 

India's struggle to create inroads

In pursuit of 278 runs, all eyes were on Jhulan Goswami and Meghna Singh to give the team much-needed breakthroughs early in the innings. However, the duo failed to consistently bowl in the right areas as Alyssa Healy and Rachael Haynes capitalised on the below-par start to forge an opening partnership of 121 runs and lay a solid foundation in the run chase. 

The Women in Blue have managed to pick up only three wickets in the first ten overs of this iconic event and conceded a boundary every 7.5 deliveries in the powerplay, the worst among all the teams.

Over the years, the Indian side has been hampered by the lack of inroads created by the bowling unit, and this match was no different. Australia managed to stitch two hundred-run partnerships at the top of the order to guide them through to a convincing win, the highest ever in the history of the tournament. 

The run chase was powered by a scintillating knock by skipper Lanning, who produced a masterclass to score 97 off 107 deliveries, with 13  boundaries to help Australia storm to the semi-finals of the tournament.

What lies ahead for the team?

With three losses in five matches, India's World Cup dream is hanging by a thread and will need to produce dominating performances against Bangladesh and South Africa in their bid to inch closer to the knockout stages of the competition.