India take on New Zealand in their third Group A match of ICC Women's T20 World Cup at Junction Oval in Australia's Melbourne on Thursday (February 27, 2020). Both the team are unbeaten in the tournament so far with India at the top of Group A with two wins in two matches and New Zealand in the second spot after beating Sri Lanka in their opener.


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The match starts 9:30 am Indian Standard Time (Australia time 3 pm) in the 4000-seater Junction Oval stadium which was earlier known as St Kilda Cricket Club Ground. The stadium has two ends - City End and St Kilda End - and was established in 1856 in St Kilda, Melbourne.


Junction Oval's pitch has a history of being batter friendly and even big scores can be chased easily. The bowlers have to struggle to get purchase from the wicket in the limited-overs version of the game and T20 is even tougher.


Melbourne will have a sunny morning on Thursday followed by cloudy afternoon, according to the Bureau of Meteorology which is Australia's national weather, climate and water agency. There is a slight (about 30%) chance of a light shower during the evening at around 7 pm Australia time but by them match should be well and truly over. The forecast is for light winds (20-30 kilometres per hour) in the morning.


India are ranked 3rd in ICC Women's T20I list while New Zealand are a position above at three. None of the teams have won the ICC Women's T20 World Cup. India's record in last five T20I matches is won, won, lost, won, lost while New Zealand are won, no result, won, lost and won.


India team: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Taniya Bhatia (wicketkeeper), Harleen Deol, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Richa Ghosh, Veda Krishnamurthy, Smriti Mandhana, Shikha Pandey, Arundhati Reddy, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Shafali Verma, Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav.


New Zealand Team: Sophie Devine (captain), Suzie Bates, Lauren Down, Maddy Green, Holly Huddleston, Hayley Jensen, Leigh Kasperek, Amelia Kerr, Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Katey Martin, Katie Perkins, Anna Peterson, Rachel Priest, Lea Tahuhu.