CWG Women's Cricket Preview: Harmanpreet's India face World Champions Australia in opening encounter

Women's cricket is making its debut at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, and the Indian women's cricket team will start their campaign against World Champions Australia.

It will be a repeat of the last T20 World Cup final, where India were comprehensively beaten by Meg Lanning's Southern Stars at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2020.

Also read: CWG 2022 full schedule: All you need to know about India's events at Commonwealth Games

India are placed alongside Australia, Barbados and arch-rivals Pakistan in Group A. While Harmanpreet Kaur's Women in Blue are high on confidence after their series win against Sri Lanka, Australia start as favourites.

In the 7 T20 World Cups that have taken place till date, Australia have won the coveted trophy 5 times. It's safe to say they are also the favourites to win Gold at Birmingham 2022.

India, who were rocked by a couple of positive Covid cases ahead of their departure to Birmingham, will need an exceptional performance to overcome the Aussie challenge.

The Women in Blue will be hoping their seniors can step up on the big day, with all eyes on the likes of Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma & Poonam Yadav in Edgbaston.