It was Australia's party that India gatecrashed on the opening night, leaving them somewhat grappling with the weight of expectations of being defending champions in a home World Cup. Sri Lanka too stepped on their tail for a bit when they had them on the mat at 10 for 3 in a modest chase. Their campaign thrown off-track right at the start, coupled with a tournament-ending injury to their talisman allrounder, Australia dug deep and staved off a late-but-very-real scare in two straight knockouts to make it to where they've always belonged. They are the hosts, the holders and they'd made it to all but one of the six finals before this, winning four. Now they are in their sixth final and on the brink of a record-extending fifth title, just as the organisers would have secretly hoped, for one half of their #FillTheMCG ambition on International Women's Day this Sunday (March 8).
Six-time finalists Australia, first-timer Indians and an MCG date
And India await them there, possibly the only team who even at foreign venues command local support so strong to potentially turn the stadium into a sea of blue. Make no mistake, this Indian side has garnered all this loyalty purely with their on-field game, to which a 16-year-old Shafali Verma's batting antics have contributed as equally as the experienced Poonam Yadav's baffling googlies. India have hardly put a foot wrong since the tournament opener, despite not getting that perfect game yet, or their captain and vice-captain contributing significantly. New Zealand put up a brave fight en route, but once that was dealt with their passage to the final has been uneventful. So uneventful that they haven't taken the field in seven days. It helped that they'd topped their group without dropping a game, for when weather interfered, India were rewarded with a walkover ticket to the title clash whereas England, heartbreakingly, were on the next flight home.
There are matchups that'll decide the course this final takes. Verma and Smriti Mandhana have the wood over Megan Schutt, who will be leading the pace attack in the injury-forced absence of Ellyse Perry. Jess Jonassen continues to trouble Harmanpreet Kaur. The Indian captain herself is due for a big one, and Australia wouldn't want to be at the receiving end of it again. There's Ashleigh Gardner who has scored a bagful of runs against India at no. 3 and then there's 24 balls of the Poonam Yadav rollercoaster that the hosts have already gone through and not liked.
It was at the MCG that India had
