Australia captain Alyssa Healy has been ruled out of the fifth and final T20I against India, to be held at Brabourne Stadium on Tuesday (December 20), after suffering a calf strain in Saturday’s series-clinching seven-run win. Tahlia McGrath, the vice-captain, said in the pre-match press conference that she will lead Australia in the final match of the series. She had taken over as captain of Australia during their defence of 173.


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Alyssa, who took over as Australia captain for the tour of India in the absence of Meg Lanning, strained her calf while batting in the sixth over of the fourth T20I. She limped from the ground after being retired hurt and took no further part in the match. Tahlia had captained the Adelaide Strikers to their maiden Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) title in November and has also captained her state team South Australia in a domestic one-day cricket tournament. She will now become the eighth player to captain Australia women’s T20I side.



“I’m new to leadership in this team and have been learning a lot on the fly and it probably worked in my favour that I didn’t have long to think about it, I was strangely calm out there, I had a lot of support. (When Richa Ghosh was flying) I had to try and stay calm and keep the team calm.


“I’ve come off the back of captaining strikers for six weeks where it’s high pressure, the best players in the world are there and that’s what it felt like, I was captaining the strikers with a few extra players,” Tahlia McGrath said.


In absence of Alyssa, her opening partner Beth Mooney will be on keeping duties for Tuesday’s match, having done the same during the second innings of Saturday’s game. Beth has kept wickets for Perth Scorchers in WBBL and for Western Australia in domestic cricket.


India Women vs Australia Women 5th T20I Match Details


Venue: Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai


Date & Time: December 20, 7pm IST onwards


Live Streaming and TV details: Star Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar website and app.


IND-W vs AUS-W 5th T20I Dream11 Prediction


Wicketkeepers: Richa Ghosh


Batters: Shikhar Smriti Mandhana, Beth Mooney, Jemimah Rodrigues


All-rounders: Tahlia McGrath, Deepti Sharma


Bowlers: Darcie Brown, Alana King, Devika Vaidya


Captain: Ellyse Perry


Vice-captain: Harmanpreet Kaur


India Women vs Australia Women 5th T20I match Predicted 11


India Women: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Richa Ghosh(w), Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya, Radha Yadav, Anjali Sarvani, Meghna Singh, Renuka Thakur Singh


Australia Women: Grace Harris, Beth Mooney (wk), Tahlia McGrath (C), Ashleigh Gardner, Ellyse Perry, Brown, Annabel Sutherland, Heather Graham, Alana King, Kim Garth, Megan Schutt