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A bright and sunny day is expected in Cape Town for the first semi-final of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup between India Women (IND-W) and Australia Women (AUS-W). The match will be played at Newlands on Thursday, February 23.
Australia have entered the top four without dropping any points. They have been ruthless throughout the group phase, thrashing opponents by massive margins. The Aussies began their campaign by beating New Zealand by 97 runs, before beating Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and South Africa by 10, eight, and six wickets, respectively.
They have been the overwhelming favorites to defend the title but skipper Meg Lanning stressed that they need to play well to beat India, who also have match-winners in their ranks.
"We both know each other very well," Lanning said on the eve of the match. “They are an incredible side and they've got some match-winners and world-class players, so it's going to be a cracking game and we can't wait. We came here to be part of a game like this and we're expecting to have to play at our best to win."
India, on the other hand, have blown hot and cold so far in the tournament. They lost against Group B toppers England before beating Ireland narrowly via the DLS method. The Irish side were five runs behind the DLS par score at that stage.
While Harmapreet Kaur and Co. are not the favorites, in-form wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh stressed that they can beat Australia.
"We can beat Australia, it’s not that we can't beat them - because we have done it before. Yes, they are a strong team but we can beat them," she said.
Australia have won five of the seven ICC Women’s T20 World Cups that have been staged, but India will be desperate to make it to the final in Cape Town on Thursday.
Cape Town weather - Newlands weather report on February 23 - No rain predicted
An uninterrupted game awaits fans in Cape Town for the first T20 World Cup semi-final between India and Australia. A full 40 overs of action is expected as the Cape Town weather forecast suggests that there is no chance of precipitation at all.
The temperature will hover between 21 and 24 degrees Celsius with no cloud cover. The humidity is expected to be around 50 percent. All in all, pleasant weather is likely to prevail in Cape Town during the all-important game.
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