Australia v India, T20 World Cup: match preview

5h ago Laura Jolly, in London

India are playing for their World Cup survival as they meet an undefeated Australian outfit at Lord's

Match facts

Who: Australia v India

What: Match 30, ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026, Group 1

When: Sunday, June 29. First ball 2:30pm local time (11.30m AEST)

Where: Lord's, London

Live scores: Match Centre

How to watch: Prime Video

Officials: Nimali Perera, Jacqueline Williams (on-field), Sue Redfern (TV), Saleema Imtiaz (fourth), Shandre Fritz (referee)

News and reactions post-play: cricket.com.au and the CA Live app

What's on the line

The race for semi-final spots comes down to this.

Australia are sitting a game clear on top spot on the table and their enormous net run-rate advantage, sitting on 4.724 ahead of India on 2.268, means they are extremely unlikely to be dislodged from that spot regardless of the result at Lord's on Sunday.

For India, the stakes are far higher. Win, and they're more than likely through to the semis, given their own healthy NRR lead over South Africa. Lose and they're most likely going home, with the Proteas favourites to take out their final game against Bangladesh.

The quirks of the tournament playing conditions mean India have an allocated semi-final – the first one, on June 30 – should they qualify.

If they don't get through, the first semi will see the top-ranked team in group one take on the second-ranked team from group two at The Oval on June 30. The second team in group one will then meet the top-ranked team in group two – almost certain to be England – in the second semi at the same venue on July 2.

T20 World Cup finals race: How the groups are shaping up

Broadcast info

All 33 matches will be shown exclusively live on Prime Video in Australia, which holds the Aussie broadcast rights for all ICC events until the end of 2027. There is no free-to-air Australian television broadcast under the deal, however Prime Video have made this tournament free to access – you will still need a Prime account and to login, but no payment is required to watch matches from the tournament. You can sign up here for Prime Video – which includes a 30-day free trial.

If joining the broadcast late, Prime Video offers a 'rapid recap' feature, which will bring fans up to speed on the best action so far. Prime Video will also produce on-demand highlights packages after every match along with full match replays, available immediately after the match has finished.

The squads

Australia: Sophie Molineux (c), Ashleigh Gardner (vc), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Nicola Carey, Kim Garth, Lucy Hamilton, Grace Harris, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham. Travelling reserve: Tahlia Wilson

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Bharti Fulmali, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Sree Charani, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Nandani Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Thakur, Kranti Gaud, Prema Rawat, Radha Yadav

Possible XIs

Australia: Beth Mooney (wk), Georgia Voll, Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner, Georgia Wareham, Annabel Sutherland, Nicola Carey, Sophie Molineux (c), Alana King, Kim Garth

Phoebe Litchfield is on track for a return against India and if she makes the XI, she'll slot back into her usual No.3 position. That leaves Australia asking questions around team balance – do they revert back to the XI that defeated South Africa prior to Litchfield's injury, which included four spinners, or do they leave out a spinner or allrounder and play an extra quick?

India: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Sree Charani, Nandni Sharma, Renuka Thakur

India brought Renuka Thakur and Radha Yadav into their XI to play Bangladesh. Both have strong records against Australia so could retain their spots for Lord's.

Uncovered: The Aussie women's team are obsessed with coffee

Australia v India World Cup history

Have you got a spare couple of hours? The World Cup lore between these teams in recent times is intense. It's hard to think of an occasion where a high-stakes encounter between these teams hasn't been a classic.

The last time they met in a T20 World Cup, Australia held off a fast-finishing India to claim a nine-run group stage win in Sharjah – a defeat that ultimately cost India a spot in the semis.

Feature

Eleven World Cup classics between Australia and India

In South Africa in 2023, Australia and India met in a classic semi-final in Cape Town which once again went down to the wire, with a clutch bowling effort by spinners Jess Jonassen and Ashleigh Gardner in the dying overs securing a five-run win and a spot in the decider for the Aussies.

In the most recent ODI World Cup, Australia pulled off a world record run chase in the group stage against India in Vizag last October ... only for India to reclaim the record when they broke Aussie hearts with one of the all-time great semi-final wins later the same month.

Players to watch

Sophie Molineux

The Aussie skipper has become a feature of Powerplay bowling plans with her left-arm spin and in three out of four matches, has taken a wicket in her first over. She's Australia's leading wicket taker so far with six scalps at an average of nine with an economy rate of 4.50 and will be key in making inroads into India's top order.

Smriti Mandhana & Shafali Verma

It's hardly surprisingly that India's opening pair hold the key to success against Australia. The Aussies have struggled to make breakthroughs against India in the Powerplay in white-ball cricket in recent times, and both Mandhana and Verma have been on song in this tournament, sitting third and sixth on the runs tally respectively.

The three factors that could decide Australia-India contest

Local knowledge

Australia have played just one T20I at Lord's previously, a five-wicket defeat to England during the 2023 Ashes. Before that, their most recent visit to the ground was for an ODI in 2013.

India meanwhile have never played a T20I at Lord's, but did play a one-dayer there last year where they suffered an eight-wicket defeat.

Both teams will lean heavily on the experience of those who have played in The Hundred and who will have more insight into the conditions than their teammates.

So far only one match has been played at Lord's this tournament, with England scoring 7-186 before restricting the West Indies to 5-148.

Form guide

Past 10 matches, most recent first. W: win, L: loss, N: No result

Australia: W W W W W W W L W L

Australia's World Cup campaign rolled on with a 113-run win over Pakistan in Leeds. It continued their unbeaten run at this tournament, which also saw them claim a 98-run win over the Netherlands, defeat Bangladesh by nine wickets and start the tournament with a statement 65-run win over South Africa at Old Trafford.

Prior to that, Australia swept the West Indies 3-0 in St Vincent and the Grenadines in March, but suffered a T20 series loss on home soil to India in February, going down 1-2.

India: W L W W L L W L W L

India started the tournament on a strong note with big wins over Pakistan and the Netherlands. But a stumble against South Africa has left them in danger of missing the semi-finals and even after defeating Bangladesh in Manchester, their fate will still come down to whether or not they can beat Australia.

Leading into the tournament, India had a poor run, losing a T20I series to England 1-2 and to South Africa 1-4.

Rapid stats

India have won two of their last three women's T20Is against Australia including a 17-run victory when they last met in February at Adelaide Oval; they will be aiming for consecutive wins against them in the format for only the second time, with the first coming in January 2016.
Australia have won their last three ICC Women's T20 World Cup matches against India, winning the coin toss and batting first in each of those three victories; they had won only two of their four meetings in the tournament prior.
India have won three of their last four women's T20Is including a five-wicket victory against Bangladesh last time out at this T20 World Cup; it's as many as they won across their 10 games in the format prior to that span.
Australia have won 14 of their last 16 women's T20Is including each of their last seven; their only two defeats in that span have come against India in February.
India have won three of their four group stage matches this tournament; a fourth victory in this game would equal their most wins at this stage in a single edition of the tournament.
Australia have scored 170-plus runs in each of their last three T20 World Cup innings when they've batted first – all at this tournament – a fourth consecutive innings in this match would be their outright longest such scoring run in the history of the tournament.
Deepti Sharma (25) is three away from equaling Poonam Yadav (28) for the most wickets for India in women's T20 World Cup history; although, she hasn't taken a wicket across her last two T20I innings against Australia – after recording at least one wicket in each of her 10 innings against them prior (taking 15 wickets in total at a strike rate of 15.2).
Beth Mooney (7) is one away from surpassing Alyssa Healy (7) for the outright most 50-plus scores of any player for Australia in women's T20 World Cup history.
Smriti Mandhana (India) has scored 167 runs at this ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026, the joint-second most of any player for India (also Harmanpreet Kaur – 167 in 2018) in the group stage of a single women's T20 World Cup, behind only Mithali Raj (208 runs) in 2014. Mandhana scored 82 runs in her most recent T20I innings against Australia in February.
Sophie Molineux (four wins) is one away from surpassing Alex Blackwell and Jodie Fields for the outright second most wins as captain of Australia in women's T20 World Cup history, behind only Meg Lanning (25 wins). Molineux has taken six wickets in this 2026 campaign, one away from equaling Ashleigh Gardner (seven in 2023) and her own tally in 2024 (seven) for the most by a spin bowler for Australia in the group stage of a single tournament.

ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026

Australia squad: Sophie Molineux (c), Ashleigh Gardner (vc), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Nicola Carey, Kim Garth, Lucy Hamilton, Grace Harris, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham. Travelling reserve: Tahlia Wilson