Australians to miss part of IPL 2019, India eyeing semifinal berth and more - Cricket News Today,  15 November 2018

Team India eye for semifinal berth ahead of Ireland clash

After the last-over victory against the neighbours four days ago, India take on Ireland in their third league fixture today in the ICC women’s World T20. After two wins in two games, India sits comfortably in second place in the points table with Australia topping the group having won all their three games.

Team India look to be in good form as their captain Harmanpreet Kaur scored a century against New Zealand and struck crucial boundaries against Pakistan. The ever cool Mithali Raj also is in good form with an unbeaten half-century against Pakistan taking their team across the line. The form of these two players will be a key factor for Indian team going into the latter part of the tournament.

As the competition gets tougher, India wouldn’t want to have a poor day in the field like they had against Pakistan. They dropped quite a few catches in that match and would want to rectify that at the earliest. Also, Smriti Mandhana is yet to have a good score in the tournament which might worry the team as she is one their key players going forward.

A victory today for India will ensure their berth for the semifinal of the tournament and their final fixture against Australia will be just a factor to decide the No.1 and No.2 positions. Hence the Indian team wouldn’t want to lose out on the opportunity against Ireland and leave it until the last match to qualify.