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India sweat over Harmanpreet Kaur's fitness before T20 World Cuo semi-final vs Australia
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Pooja Vastrakar could miss the side's all-important clash against Australia in the semi-final of the Women's T20 World Cup.
Ahead of the high-octane Women's T20 World Cup semi-final clash against Australia, Team India could be in for a massive setback as its captain Harmanpreet Kaur might miss the game due to illness. Harmanpreet and two other Indian cricketers - Pooja Vastrakar and Radha Yadav - were taken to a local hospital on the eve of the big-ticket clash after they were down with high fever. BCCI on Thursday afternoon, confirmed that Vastrakar has been ruled out of the tournament due to an upper respiratory tract infection. She has been replaced by Sneh Rana.
The decision on Harmanpreet's availability will be taken at the last hour.
If Harmanpreet fails to regain full fitness for the match later tonight, Smriti Mandhana is expected to lead the side in the semi-final. The Indian skipper has played in all of the side's matches in the T20 World Cup so far, registering scores of 16, 33, 4, and 13 in four matches in the tournament so far.
India had finished second in their group at the T20 World Cup, registering wins over arch-rivals Pakistan, West Indies, and Ireland. The side faced a narrow defeat to England, who eventually topped the group table. The English team faces South Africa in the second semi-final of the tournament on Friday.
In Australia, India face a tricky opposition in the semi-final; the two teams have contested in T20Is on 30 occasions, with India winning only six matches. While one match ended in a tie, another was abandoned. The world's top-ranked team is aiming for a hat-trick of Women's T20 World Cup title and they remain favourites after a dominant performance in the group stage; Australia won all four of their group matches.
Meg Lanning's side has rarely looked in trouble and stopping them will be a tough task for India.
