IN-W vs AU-W prediction: Who will win the Women's World Cup 2022 match?

India Women (IN-W) will take on Australia Women (AU-W) in the 18th match of the ICC Women's World Cup 2022 on Saturday, March 19. Eden Park in Auckland will host this contest.

Australia, captained by Meg Lanning, have looked clinical in the tournament thus far. Having won all four of their matches, they are placed at the top of the table with an excellent net run rate of 1.744. After demolishing New Zealand by 141 runs, they beat West Indies by seven wickets on March 15.

West Indies won the toss and elected to bat first, but were shot out for a paltry score of 131 in 45.5 overs. Skipper Stafanie Taylor scored a half-century, but didn’t get enough support from others. Ellyse Perry wreaked havoc with three crucial wickets.

Perry, who won the Player of the Match award, dismissed Deandra Dottin, Hayley Matthews and Kycia Knight inside the first 10 overs. From there on, Ashleigh Gardner picked up three wickets and broke the backbone of the West Indies middle-order. Left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen also picked up two wickets.

Australia made light work of their run-chase and tracked down the target with 19.4 overs to spare. Rachael Haynes stayed unbeaten on 83 runs off 95 balls with the help of nine fours.

India, led by Mithali Raj, on the other hand, are in the middle of the table and are in desperate need of a win. They defeated Pakistan and the West Indies by margins of over 100 runs, but faced heavy defeats at the hands of hosts New Zealand and defending champions England.

They lost to the latter side by four wickets in their previous match on March 16. After being put into bat first, India were shot out for 134 in 36.4 overs. Smriti Mandhana and Richa Ghosh scored in their 30s, but the duo hardly got any support from others.

Jhulan Goswami threw her bat around and gave India’s score some sort of respectability. England lost Tammy Beaumont and Danielle Wyatt early but Knight and Nat Sciver put on 65 runs for the third wicket to lay the platform for their run-chase. While Sciver got out for 45, Knight stayed unbeaten to see her team home.

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Will India Women (IN-W) beat Australia Women (AU-W)?

AU-W will be firm favorites when they take on IN-W.

Australia Women have won 35 out of their last 37 WODIs. But one of their two defeats came against India at home last year.

Having stayed unbeaten thus far in the tournament, the Aussies will go into their next match as the favorites. India will need to play out of their skins to get a win here.

Prediction: Australia Women (AU-W) to win the match.