Pink-ball Test to headline Indian women’s cricket team tour to Australia - get full schedule

The Indian women’s cricket team will take on Australia women in a multi-format series starting September 19.

This will be the first meeting between the two sides since the T20 World Cup final played at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground last year.

Led by captain Mithali Raj, India will be involved in a three-match ODI series in Sydney and Melbourne followed by ​​a historic pink-ball Test in Perth scheduled to be held from September 30. The India women’s tour of Australia will conclude with three T20Is to be hosted at the North Sydney Oval.

The highlight of the full-fledged tour will be the much-anticipated Test match between India women and Australia women. Interestingly, this will be India women’s first-ever pink-ball Test in the international circuit.

The last time these two teams faced each other in the longest format was in 2006 in Adelaide. Under captain Karen Rolton, Australia women thrashed India by an innings and four runs. India’s veteran cricketers Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami also played in that Test match. 

Meanwhile, around 30 Indian women cricketers have assembled in Bengaluru for the training camp ahead of the Australia tour. The players who were involved in the recently-concluded 100-ball League including Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma have also joined the national team. The Indian women squad for the Australia tour will be announced soon.

The Indian women’s team is expected to travel to Australia on August 29 and will serve a 14-day quarantine upon landing.

On the other hand, the Australian women’s cricket team has announced its 18-member squad for the India series. Led by captain Meg Lanning, the squad also features senior players such as Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy and Rachel Haynes.

Australia will, however, miss the services of fast bowlers Megan Schutt and Belinda Vakarewa. Both are out due to personal reasons.

Australia women vs India women full squads

Australia women squad: Meg Lanning (captain), Rachael Haynes (vice-captain), Darcie Brown, Maitlan Brown, Stella Campbell, Nicola Carey, Hannah Darlington, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy (wicket-keeper), Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney (wicket-keeper), Ellyse Perry, Georgia Redmayne, Molly Strano, Annabel Sutherland, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham

India women squad: Yet to be announced.

Australia women vs India women 2021: Schedule, fixtures and India match times 

All times in India Standard Time (IST)

Featured photo: Twitter/SmritiMandhana