Australia won the toss and elected to bat in the women’s Twenty20 World Cup final against India on Sunday at a packed Melbourne Cricket Ground.Top-ranked Australia, the defending champions, are targeting a fifth title, while India are playing in their first final.
Organisers are hoping more than 90,000 fans will cram the cavernous stadium, with pop superstar Katy Perry playing two songs before the match and a fuller concert afterwards.
“It looks like a really good wicket, the crowd is amazing,” said Australian skipper Meg Lanning, whose team lost to India in the tournament’s opening match before bouncing back to win the rest of their group games. “We’re looking forward to it. We’re as ready as we can be today.”
India head into their maiden final unbeaten, on the back of the exploits of teenage opener Shafali Verma, their spin bowlers and the pace of Shikha Pandey.
“We also wanted to bat first but we are quite confident chasing so if our bowlers do a job it will be good for us,” said Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur.
Australia: Alyssa Healy, Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning (capt), Ashleigh Gardner, Rachael Haynes, Jess Jonassen, Sophie Molineux, Nicola Carey, Delissa Kimmince, Georgia Wareham, Megan Schutt
India: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia, Veda Krishnamurthy, Shikha Pandey, Radha Yadav, Poonam Yadav, Rajashwari Gayakwad
Umpires: Kim Cotton (NZL), Ahsan Raza (PAK)
TV umpire: Gregory Braithwaite (WIS)
Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG), reports AFP, MELBOURNE.
