‘There’s always a bit of spice’: Aussies look ahead to India showdown

T20I series facts 
Schedule

February 15: First T20, SCG, 7:15pm AEDT

 

February 19: Second T20, Manuka Oval, Canberra, 7:15pm AEDT

 

February 21: Third T20, Adelaide Oval, 7:15pm AEDT

How to watch or listen in Australia: Channel 7, 7plus, Fox Cricket, Kayo Sports, ABC radio, MMM

Live scores: Match Centre

Highlights, news and reactions after the match: cricket.com.au and the CA Live app

Tickets: Ticketek 

The squads

Australia: Sophie Molineux (c), Ashleigh Gardner (vc), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham

There’s a changing of the guard for Australia’s T20 squad, with Sophie Molineux taking the reins following Alyssa Healy’s retirement from the shortest format. Alana King is the major omission from the T20I leg of the multi-format series, while it’s expected that Georgia Voll will become full-time opener in place of Healy, and Beth Mooney will take over the wicketkeeping gloves.

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Renuka Thakur, Sree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Uma Chetry, Arundhati Reddy, Amanjot Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Bharti Fulmali, Shreyanka Patil

Shreyanka Patil has returned to India’s T20I squad after spending 14 months sidelined by injury before storming back into the Women’s Premier League last month. India have made just three changes to the side that swept Sri Lanka 5-0 in December, with Bharati Fulmali another addition, having been recalled after an almost six-year absence from the international circuit. Back-up ‘keeper Uma Chetry was not initially named, but was called in after Gunalan Kamalini was ruled out with a shoulder injury. 

Form Guide

Past 10 matches, most recent first. W: win, L: loss, T: Tie   

Australia: W W W W W W L W W W 

It’s been a long time between T20Is for Australia, whose last series in the format was their 3-0 sweep of New Zealand last March. Prior to that, they had enjoyed a strong run in the format, with the glaring exception of their 2024 World Cup semi-final loss to South Africa. With a new-look leadership team at the helm, they’ll need to quickly settle and find their groove ahead of the next T20 World Cup in England in June.

India: W W W W W L W L W W

India carried their ODI World Cup success through to a T20I series against Sri Lanka last December, where they swept Chamari Athapaththu’s team 5-0. 

Prior to that, they fought it out over five matches against England in July last year, winning the series 3-2.

Last time they met

Safe to say, Australia fans will still be feeling the pain of last October’s ODI World Cup semi-final defeat to India, which saw Jemimah Rodrigues hit a blistering ton as her team pulled off the highest run chase in the format’s history in Navi Mumbai.

In the T20I format, Australia and India last met during the group stage of the 2024 T20 World Cup, with the Aussies claiming a nine-run win to end India’s hopes of making the semi-finals.  

How does the multi-format system work?

India’s tour of Australia is a multi-format, points-based series featuring three ODIs, three T20Is and one Test. The team with the most points at the end of the series is awarded the trophy. An ODI or T20I win earns two points, a loss none and a tie, no result or abandoned match will earn a single point. There are four points on offer for the Test, with each team awarded two if there is a draw.

Australia took out the inaugural multi-format series in 2021 // Getty

Have Australia and India previously met in multi-format series? 

Yes, they met on Australian soil in 2021, with the Aussies winning 11-5 after taking out the ODIs 2-1, the T20Is 2-0 while the Test was a draw.

Australia also travelled to India to play all format in 2023-24, however each format was treated as a separate series and there was no overall trophy presented. If there was, Australia would have won the series 10-6 (India won the Test match while Australia won the ODIs 3-0 and the T20Is 2-1)

Head-to-head in T20IsLocal knowledgeHow else can I follow along?

Cricket.com.au and the CA Live app will have live scores for every match as well as wicket replays to go with extended video highlights, reports and interviews from our reporters throughout the series.

Make sure you’re following all the @auswomencricket and @cricketcomau social channels for extra interviews and behind-the-scenes action.

New skipper Molineux reflects on getting the captaincy call

In exciting news, The Scoop Cricket Podcast has returned to eardrums all around the country after an almost two-year hiatus. 

Esteemed broadcaster Rana Hussain and star spinner Molly Strano are co-hosting the revamped show, and the duo welcomed on freshly crowned Australian captain Sophie Molineux as their first guest. 

You can listen to episode one of the new season in the player below, or on your podcast platform of choice. Just search ‘Scoop cricket’. 

The Scoop will be released every Wednesday morning throughout the blockbuster series, so remember to hit subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. The show is also on the cricket.com.au YouTube channel. 

The forecast

There’s a top of 26 degrees Celsius forecast for Sydney on Sunday, with the potential for showers – fingers crossed, they avoid the SCG! Early doors, the forecast also looks promising for Canberra on February 19, with a top of 28 degrees, while the long-range forecast is tipping a hot one in Adelaide on February 21, with a top of 33.

Rapid stats

Australia have won four of their five multi-game bilateral women’s T20I series against India, including each of their past three; their only defeat in that span was a 1-2 loss in Australia in January 2016.
Australia have lost only one of their past 19 bilateral women’s T20I series, a 1-2 defeat against England in England in July 2023; they’ve won each of their seven such series since then.
India are undefeated in their past five bilateral women’s T20I series and have won their last three; this is their longest unbeaten run in such series in the history of the format.
Australia have won each of their four T20Is at the Sydney Cricket Ground; it’s the joint-most matches they’ve played at any venue in Australia in the history of the format without losing. Only at Edgbaston in Birmingham (winning six) and Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur (wining five) have they logged more matches overall and maintained a 100 per cent win rate.

‘She brings people together’: Molly’s strong bond with Sophie

India have recorded a batting dot ball rate under 30 per cent in three of their past four women’s T20I innings, as many times as they logged across their 15 innings prior in the format.
Australia have scored 180+ runs in each of their last two T20I innings when batting first; only twice have they done so in more consecutive innings (three from July to October in 2019, and three from March to October in 2018).
Shafali Verma (India) has scored 394 runs at an average of 65.7 across her last eight T20I innings, including 65+ in three of her last four innings in that span (69*, 79*, 79, 5).
Beth Mooney (Australia) recorded a batting average of 94.8 in women’s T20Is in 2025, the second best of any player to log more than five innings in the format (Meghna Rajan – 130.7 for Switzerland); Mooney has scored 1,742 runs at an average of 43.6 across her last 45 T20 innings overall (x21 Women’s Big Bash League, x18 Women’s Premier League, x6 T20I).
India duo Renuka Singh Thakur (57.1 per cent of 42 balls bowled) and Kranti Gaud (51.7 per cent of 60 balls bowled) were the only players to log a bowling dot ball rate of at least 50 per cent in India’s most recent T20I series against Sri Lanka in December 2025.
Only West Indies’ Deandra Dottin (203.7 from 54 balls faced) recorded a higher batting strike rate in women’s T20Is in 2025 (min. 30 balls faced) than Australia duo Tahlia McGrath (174.5 from 51 balls faced) and Grace Harris (171.4 from 35 balls faced).

NRMA Insurance Australia v India Multi-Format Series

Australia T20I squad: Sophie Molineux (c), Ashleigh Gardner (vc), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham

 

India T20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Renuka Thakur, Sree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Uma Chetry, Arundhati Reddy, Amanjot Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Bharti Fulmali, Shreyanka Patil

February 15: First T20, SCG, 7:15pm AEDT

February 19: Second T20, Manuka Oval, Canberra, 7:15pm AEDT

February 21: Third T20, Adelaide Oval, 7:15pm AEDT

Australia ODI squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Sophie Molineux (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham

 

India ODI squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Renuka Thakur, Sree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Kashvee Gautam, Amanjot Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Uma Chetry, Harleen Deol

February 24: First ODI, Allan Border Field, Brisbane, 2:50pm AEDT

February 27: Second ODI, Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 2:50pm AEDT

March 1: Third ODI, Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 2:50pm AEDT

Australia Test squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Sophie Molineux (vc), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Lucy Hamilton, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham

 

India Test squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma, Renuka Singh, Sneh Rana, Amanjot Kaur, Uma Chetry, Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Kranti Gaud, Vaishnavi Sharma, Sayali Satghare

March 6-9: Test match, WACA Ground, 4:20pm AEDT (D/N)