India vs Australia, India’s hopes of clinching their maiden ICC Women’s World Cup title took a temporary hit after a narrow three-wicket loss to South Africa in Visakhapatnam. With that defeat behind them, Harmanpreet Kaur and her team now shift their focus to a blockbuster clash against defending champions Australia on October 12 — a contest that has become one of the fiercest rivalries in modern women’s cricket.
In the lead-up to the high-stakes encounter, players from both sides opened up about the mutual respect and growing competition that defines the India–Australia rivalry.
India vs Australia: Harmanpreet and Mandhana on Facing Their Toughest Rivals
Speaking to JioStar, India captain Harmanpreet Kaur acknowledged the intensity that comes with facing Australia, a team known for its relentless competitiveness.
“𝑰 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒈𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆. 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝑨𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒂 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒖𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒔,” 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒕. “𝑫𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍. 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝑨𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒂.”
Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana shared her perspective on her ongoing on-field battles with Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry, describing it as a contest built on mutual admiration.
“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑬𝒍𝒍𝒚𝒔𝒆 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒖𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒔. 𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝑰’𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒆’𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔 𝒎𝒆,” 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒂 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅. “𝑺𝒉𝒆’𝒔 𝒂 𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆. 𝑾𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒖𝒔𝒉 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆.”
India vs Australia: Healy and Mooney Confident Yet Cautious
Australia captain Alyssa Healy reflected on her team’s history and dominance in Indian conditions while acknowledging India’s growing strength as contenders for the title.
“𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑨𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒂 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝑪𝒖𝒑 𝒊𝒏 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂 — 𝒔𝒐, 𝒏𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒔𝒐𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓!” 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒚 𝒋𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅. “𝑷𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒖𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒔, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒅𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚’𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒅 — 𝒘𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒖𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆’𝒓𝒆 𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆.”
Top-order batter Beth Mooney echoed similar sentiments, praising India’s well-rounded lineup and singling out Mandhana’s elegant stroke play.
“𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑺𝒏𝒆𝒉 𝑹𝒂𝒏𝒂, 𝑫𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒕𝒊 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒂, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑹𝒂𝒅𝒉𝒂 𝒀𝒂𝒅𝒂𝒗,” 𝑴𝒐𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒅. “𝑺𝒎𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒚 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚 — 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑰’𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒅𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆.”
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