World’s women day today 8 March 2020. Majestic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) the coliseum of cricket is hosting the mega cricket event, ICC T20 world cup final between two battle giants reigning Champions and the host of the event Australia and challengers effervescent India. ICC expects that about 90,000 cheering cricketer admirers would fill the terrace toady making is poster event for woman empowering world wide through cricket. Indians off course wherever in the world they play cricket outnumber even the hosts in color, melody and loud presence. Host Australians are also expected to come in numbers. So far cricket that has been played so far in this tournament two most deserving teams have moved to the finals though rain played a huge role in deciding the fate of the two semifinals during this week end at Sydney. India the only team undefeated so far went through without a ball being bowled for their top of group finishing in the preliminary round against another contender England. Australia off course batted through their allotted overs producing a challenging target for South Africa. But protea girls just failed reaching the revised target on Duckworth Lewis method in rain affected match. The final is expected to a mouth watering contest between the two evenly matched teams. 

It goes without saying that the development of woman cricket in ICC full members and associated member countries is contributing in a great way in popularizing cricket globally when cricket specially test cricket is losing crowd attraction. In many countries test cricket is not drawing much crowd. There may be few causes that young players are more keen for limited over versions T20 franchise for the glamour and money. In the long run this would definitely affect the game as test cricket still remains the ultimate frontier of cricket. ICC is desperate now to popularize woman cricket and give it a firm basis. They sincerely expect a capacity crowd at MCG today which is incidentally also worlds Woman day.  Two top teams from two cricket loving continents are vying for the top honors.

Points Table of Group Matches.

Group A

Group B

Semi Finals:

India won for Better Position in Group league against England as rain washed out the Match Completely.

Australia beat South Africa in the other match which was also rain affected. Australia batting first scored 5/134, South Africa required scoring 97 in 13 overs but could reach as far as 5/92 losing by 5 runs. 

This is a huge occasion for the girls from India as this is the first time they are appearing in the final of the world event and that too in great MCG. We are sure thousands very vocal singing and dancing Indian expatriates would throng the terrace. For the defending champion and the host Aussie girls it is pride at stake. What this writer has seen so far watching 8 of the participating teams in four matches at Junction Oval Melbourne that India is a versatile team with all fronts covered. They have two excellent opening batters in calm and composed Smriti Mandana and flamboyant Shefali Verma. The most accomplished batter Hamanpreet did not do much a syet. May be she has kept it reserved for the big occasion. Jesmiah Rodrgues and Deepti Sharma are quality middle order batter and Veda Krisnamurthy is an aggressive late order finisher. India has a variety of quality spinners which would give them an edge in MCG. To me Indian team appears as the well prepared team for challenging the reigning champions. We have seen how India cruised over Sri Lanka in the match at Junction oval. If not the nerves of the big occasion the final at huge MCG do not rattle my money is on India lifting the trophy today.
No one can ever count off Australia in any global cricket tournament. Australian men or women are super fit athletes and they always strive to advance fair. They lost star player Tayla Vlaeminck before the tournament. But the loss of star all rounder Alysa Perry through injury she sustained in the match against New Zealand would definitely hurts. Aussie girls would miss her aggressive batting, great penetrative bowling and sharp fielding. It is sad that such a champion cricketer is missing out a major event in her backyard. Off course Australia has few other options. Well equipped Australin girls by no means make it easy for the Indians. But what they have to deal with is too many quality left hand batters in Indian team. Australia also possess two high quality opening batsmen in Alyssa Haeley and Beth Mooney. They are very strong and powerful strikers of the ball. Captain Meg Lagging is also an experienced campaigner. She batted her team to safe zone in the rain affected semi final and also looked great against New Zealand in the key match. Absence of Perry would affect the batting a bit specially aginst quality Indian spin attack in the middle.  Ashieleigh Gardner and Rachael Haynes have to shoulder additional responsibilities of batting deep. Australians have good power hitters and bats deep also. Aussie bowling would also be affected from the loss of Tayla and Alyssa. But they have options to cover as. Megan has to use her depleted resources intelligently specially against Shefali and Mandana at the top. They must be arrested from making a smooth start. Australian fielding would give them edge over India. Moreover, Meg Lanning and her troops know MCG better than their opponents. Handling the final and displaying the quality in front of huge cheering crowd will be a huge challenge for the home team. However, Australia in this tournament have not produced their A game yet .They lost their first game against the same opposition. It is a time for them to redeem.
As for the organizers it is going to be a dream final. Hope the actual match meets all expectations. 

The Squads: 

Australia squad: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Erin Burns, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy (wk), Jess Jonassen, Delissa Kimmince, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Molly Strano, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham.

India squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Veda Krishnamurthy, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Arundhati Reddy, Rajeshwari Gaekwad, RichaGhosh

BDST: 1212 HRS, MAR 08, 2020
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