India will face arch-rival Australia in the T20 World Cup semifinals; both teams have a long history together. After a shaky start to the Women's T20 World Cup, India will need to step up significantly against nemesis Australia in the first semifinal here on Thursday.

India, who have been among the top teams in the last five years but have yet to win a major trophy, have made the semifinals of another ICC event, as expected. However, they have a history of self-destruction, particularly in knockout games against England or Australia. Australia defeated India in the previous T20 World Cup final at home, as well as in the Commonwealth Games gold medal match last year in Birmingham.

Women's cricket in India has grown significantly since the team's last appearance at the ODI World Cup in 2017, and it is now time for the team to turn its promise into performance by stepping up in a game like the one on Thursday. Though the Harmanpreet Kaur-led team won three of its four group stage games, none of them were convincing, including the game against Ireland.

Their lone defeat came against England. Given the way India has played thus far, one can only hope that they are able to resolve all of their issues in time for the big game, whether it is the inconsistent top-order, the inability to hit sixes with the exception of Richa Ghosh, or the high dot ball percentage. Shafali Verma made her international debut more than three years ago, and despite being a teenager, she has failed to learn from her mistakes, most notably her inability to rotate the strike and susceptibility to the short ball.

Indian Fans React Harmanpreet Singh, the skipper, will be under a lot of pressure to perform after not doing much so far in the World Cup. She is one of the few batters who can hit the ball far, but she has been ineffective for far too long. Another defeat in a World Cup knockout game could mean the end of her captaincy. Jemimah Rodrigues has performed admirably in the tournament, but she must do more to help the team's cause.

Star batter Smriti Mandhana has been among the consistent performers and once again she will be critical to the team's chances against Australia, who are known to raise their game in a big game to 'invincible levels'.

Harbhajan Singh's Brutal Retaliation Against Australia The Meg Lanning-led team would enter the semifinal with a 22-match T20 winning streak. Since losing a T20 match to New Zealand in March 2021, Australia has only lost two official matches in any format, both of which have come against India. In a series played in Mumbai in December, they defeated India 4-1.

Renuka Thakur, India's best bowler in the tournament, has seven wickets so far, including a five-for-15 performance against England. Deepti Sharma scored runs in her lone over against Ireland, but she has been the most consistent spinner. Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, and Radha Yadav will need to be much more accurate against the ferocious Aussies.

 Australia opener Beth Mooney is wary of India's challenge though going by past results, they should win comfortably. "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," Mooney told reporters here on Tuesday.

"We're not expecting it to be easy by any means, whether with a bat or a ball, but we know the style of play they've used in the past and they know ours pretty well, too." Harmanpreet stated that even though her team lost the home series, the high scoring five games gave the players a lot of confidence. "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.

We played five games in a row and then one practise game, so we know their strengths and weaknesses." Despite missing Australia's final group game against South Africa due to quad soreness, opener Alyssa Healy is fit to play on Thursday.

Teams (from):

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Richa Ghosh, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya, Radha Yadav, Renuka Thakur, Anjali Sarvani, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Shikha Pandey.

Australia: Meg Lanning (c), Alyssa Healy, Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Grace Harris, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham.