3 minute read
India expect the Sydney Showground wicket can give them the edge over top-ranked Australia in Friday's Twenty20 Women's World Cup opener.
India have declared the Sydney Showground wicket will give them an advantage over Australia in Friday night's Women's Twenty20 World Cup opener.
Defending champions and world No.1 Australia head into the tournament as favourites, with the country hosting the global T20 event for the first time.
However, the Showgrounds could feel like anything but home come Friday.
A boom in Indian ticket sales is expected to create a 50-50 split in support, with organisers hopeful of a sell-out at the 22,000-seat stadium.
But it's on the pitch that India expect even more of an advantage.
The Homebush wicket is regarded as one of the slowest wickets in the tournament, where spinners have been particularly effective in recent Big Bash seasons.
That could all aid an Indian team brought up on low and slow spinning wickets, with captain Harmanpreet Kaur having also had the Showgrounds as her home at the Sydney Thunder.
"Yes definitely it will (help India)," Kaur told AAP.
"That wicket is quite similar to Indian wickets and I hope that we will be able to take that advantage and do what we want to do as a team.
"We are looking really positively at that."
India will have finger spinners Deepti Sharma and Radha Yadav at their disposal, and are both considered among the world's best.
Australia could still have their own weapons if the Showgrounds wicket does spin.
Jess Jonassen is the world's No.1 ranked one-day bowler and took 5-12 against India in a tri-series final just last week.
But still, India know their advantage lies on slower wickets rather than the more traditional pace and bounce usually on show in Australia.
They were bounced out by the Aussies on the hard and fast Manuka Oval deck a fortnight ago, with Australia adopting a short-pitched approach.
On the more even wickets in Melbourne the visitors recorded a win over the Aussies before pushing them in a close loss in the tri-series final.
"When you get extra bounce you are definitely going to get more favour into the other teams," Kaur said.
"Canberra definitely there was extra bounce on the wicket.
"If we get some balanced tracks that are more suited to us rather than bouncy tracks."
