Women's World T20: Mithali Raj fit to play but, can India topple England?

IND vs ENG Women's World T20 semi-final: In the semi-final against England, India will have their senior-most player Mithali Raj back in the side after being rested for the final group game against Australia as she was nursing a niggle suffered while fielding against Ireland

There is tension, there is anticipation, there is a lot at stake. And there is an uncanny similarity between Lord’s and Antigua. Don’t believe the last part? Ask India and England women’s team players and they will tell you. A few in the Indian camp have no baggage of what transpired at Lord’s just more than a year ago and a few are also there in the English side who don’t have their version of the ‘how we pulled off the heist’ but mainstays of both sides must be having a deja vu on the eve of their World T20 semi-final on Friday.

Then the ODI World Cup was at stake and now it is a spot in the World T20 final. Not much has changed between India and England. Apart from the fact that this time, England cannot treat India as a wildcard, which rode on individual brilliance to reach this far.

India humbled New Zealand, Pakistan, Ireland and Australia to literally sleepwalk through the group stages and into the semis to come face to face with ODI champions England. The last time the women in blue succumbed to the pressure to give away the title and possibly the key to the revolution of women’s cricket in India when they had it their grasp for the better part of the match. This time though the outcome might be different if a similar situation arises.

The India women’s team has gone through a lot. This side led by Harmanpreet Kaur does not depend on the captain or a Mithali Raj to finish off the match; it has the exuberance of a Jemimah Rodriguez, the flair of a Smriti Mandhana and the finishing touches of Veda Krishnamurthy. And the good thing for India is that all of them barring Veda have left their mark in the World T20 so far.

Skipper Harmanpreet's performance though will be key to India's success as she is known to rise to the occasion. The Moga-born cricketer can be safely termed as someone who is a 'big match' player.

Even in the current World T20, she has performed in two group league matches -- a match-winning century against New Zealand and a quick-fire 43 against Australia --, which proved to be decisive in the final context of the game.

She is currently leading the tournament run-chart with 167 runs from four games at a strike rate of 177 plus. Smriti Mandhana, with 144 runs, is fourth on the list.

Against England, India will have their senior-most player Mithali Raj back in the side after being rested for the final group game against Australia as she was nursing a niggle suffered while fielding against Ireland. She will come back in place of spinner Anuja Patil.

Under new coach Ramesh Powar, India's strategy of playing a single pacer has worked wonderfully as their spinners have done well throughout the group league stages.

Leg-spinner Poonam Yadav (8 wickets) and left-arm spinner Radha Yadav (7 wickets) have been consistent throughout the tournament.

Off-spinners Deepti Sharma (4 wickets) and Dayalan Hemlatha (5 wickets) have also kept things tight.

Indian seamers Arundhati Reddy (10 overs) and Mansi Joshi (3 overs) have only bowled 13 overs across the four league games.

However, India played all their group league matches at the same venue --Providence in Guyana -- and will now play a day/night game at a different venue.

For England, the focus will be more on their seam attack, comprising Anya Shrubsole (7 wickets) and Natalie Sciver (4 wickets). They have been very economical and have kept Bangladesh and South Africa under 100 runs.

However, Dani Wyatt (28 in 3 games) and skipper Heather Knight (31 in three games) haven't yet been tested save the game against West Indies, where England managed only 115 for 8 batting first and subsequently lost the match by four wickets.

The highest individual aggregate in this tournament is 50 from three games by Amy Jones but the semi-final will be the real test for the two teams.

Teams

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Mithali Raj, Deepti Sharma, Dayalan Hemalatha, Veda Krishnamurthy, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Mansi Joshi, Devika Vaidya, Anuja Patil.

England: Heather Knight (captain), Tammy Beaumont, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Tash Farran, Kirstie Gordon, Jenny Gunn, Danielle Hazell, Amy Jones, Natalie Sciver, Anya Shrubsole, Linsey Smith, Fran Wilson, Lauren Winfield, Danielle Wyatt.