AUS Women vs IND Women 2025/26, AUS-W vs IND-W 1st T20I Match Preview

Sydney Cricket Ground will usher in a new chapter for Australia Women on Sunday when Sophie Molineux captains the side for the first time in the opening T20I of the 2025-26 series against India, signalling the formal start of the post-Healy era. The contest launches a stretch in which every result will be viewed through the prism of next year’s T20 World Cup, the 2027 Champions Trophy, the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and yet another T20 World Cup immediately after, forcing both teams to balance immediate victory with long-term planning.

Australia enter the match on a run of five consecutive wins and have never lost a T20I at the SCG, posting totals of 134, 136 and a ground-record 198 for 3 against England last season in their three previous first-innings efforts here. India also arrive with five straight victories, but they must decide how to configure a spin attack that could include offspinner Shreyanka Patil, who impressed with 2 for 24 in the warm-up and is in line for her first T20I since 2024.

Molineux’s appointment has dominated discussion after a succession of injuries limited her recent game time. While her white-ball record is outstanding, the national selectors have already flagged that the left-arm spinning all-rounder may be managed through the calendar, adding intrigue to both her batting position and the balance of the XI. The door is therefore open for Nicola Carey’s return, while the final pace slot is set to be contested by Darcie Brown and Kim Garth. Alana King, a mainstay in March’s T20 squad, drops out to accommodate the new skipper.

Georgia Voll and Beth Mooney are expected to open, with Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland and Tahlia McGrath forming a power-packed middle order ahead of Carey, Molineux, Georgia Wareham, Brown and Megan Schutt.

India’s selection puzzle centres on the slow-bowling department. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur hinted that Patil’s recent form could earn a recall, potentially alongside Deepti Sharma and either N Shree Charani or Vaishnavi Sharma. The top six picks itself: Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma at the top, followed by Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet, Richa Ghosh and the versatile Deepti. Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud and Renuka Singh round out the likely XI.

Weather may yet have a say: showers are forecast for match day, an unwelcome reminder of Sydney’s habit of interrupting marquee fixtures.

For Molineux, the occasion will be as personal as it is professional. “I’ve got a bit of family coming,” she said of the captaincy debut. “It sort of slipped into my mind the last couple of days how it’s going to feel to lead the team out and to sing the anthem.”

Harmanpreet, meanwhile, framed the series as the next step in India’s upward curve. “Winning the ODI World Cup was one of our targets,” she noted. “We are on the right track; we are working really hard.”

With both sides on identical winning streaks and a trophy-laden few years looming, Sunday’s series opener offers an early gauge of where the balance of power lies in women’s cricket, even as the hosts begin life without one of their most influential leaders.

Australia Women vs India Women, 1st T20I, Sydney Cricket Ground, Sunday – a new era begins at a ground that has never been kind to visitors.

Australia Women possible XI: 1 Georgia Voll, 2 Beth Mooney (wk), 3 Phoebe Litchfield, 4 Ellyse Perry, 5 Annabel Sutherland, 6 Tahlia McGrath, 7 Nicola Carey, 8 Sophie Molineux (capt), 9 Georgia Wareham, 10 Darcie Brown, 11 Megan Schutt

India Women possible XI: 1 Smriti Mandhana, 2 Shafali Verma, 3 Jemimah Rodrigues, 4 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 5 Richa Ghosh (wk), 6 Deepti Sharma, 7 Arundhati Reddy, 8 Shreyanka Patil, 9 Kranti Gaud, 10 N Shree Charani/Vaishnavi Sharma, 11 Renuka Singh