Litchfield to miss second ODI, Aussies bowling first

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Phoebe Litchfield will miss Australia’s second ODI against India in New Chandigarh with a low-grade quad strain, with Alyssa Healy electing to bowl first as her team seeks a series win.

Litchfield, the star of Sunday’s eight-wicket victory after scoring 88 at the top of the order, has been replaced by Georgia Voll, who will open the batting alongside Healy.

Darcie Brown meanwhile has replaced Kim Garth in the second change to the Australian side, with the visitors seeking to provide opportunities for their pace attack ahead of the ODI World Cup later this month.

Australia XI: Alyssa Healy (c) (wk), Georgia Voll, Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney, Annabel Sutherland, Ashleigh Gardner, Tahlia McGrath, Georgia Wareham, Alana King, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown

India XI: Pratika Rawal, Smriti Mandhana, Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Sneh Rana, Kranti Goud, Renuka Singh Thakur, Arundhati Reddy

Healy said she elected to bat first, despite the intense daytime heat and humidity, in order to give her team another chance to continue acclimatising to the conditions.

India were dealt a blow ahead of the match with star batter Jemimah Rodrigues ruled out of the remainder of the series as she recovers from a viral fever. She has been replaced in the squad by Tejal Hasabnis.

The hosts made two changes to their XI, with Renuka Thakur returning from injury and Arundhati Reddy recalled, with the pair replacing Rodrigues and spinner Sree Charani.

The Aussies are seeking a series win following their eight-wicket victory in Sunday’s opening game, and another boost of confidence heading into the World Cup.

Intense humidity in the Punjabi city got the better of several of the Aussies on Sunday, with Sutherland leaving the field during the bowling innings before Ellyse Perry retired on 30 due to cramp.

“There was a bit going on in the game the other night with the heat, it’s the first time in a little while that we’ve played in those conditions, so it was a little bit of a shock to the system for everyone, myself included, as always,” Beth Mooney told reporters on Tuesday.

“But from all reports, everyone’s pulled up pretty well … we had a good day off yesterday, there weren’t too many players venturing out in the heat again.”

Mooney said she was also expecting a stern challenge from the hosts, who were on top of Australia early on Sunday during a 114-run opening stand, but were then pegged back with the bat, before letting crucial opportunities slip in the field.

“I don’t think any international game of cricket is easy, to be honest … we saw in the first innings that India certainly put us to the sword a little bit, the opening partnership was quite big and it took us a while to drag that momentum back,” she said.

“India will have reflected on the game just like we have and probably come with some different ideas and different plans, so certainly expecting a challenge tomorrow.”

Qantas ODI tour of India 2025

September 14: First ODI: Australia won by eight wickets

September 17: Second ODI, Mullanpur Cricket Stadium, 6pm AEST

September 20: Third ODI, Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, 6pm AEST

India squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Renuka Singh Thakur, Arundhati Reddy, Richa Ghosh (wk), Kranti Gaud, Amanjot Kaur, Radha Yadav, Sree Charani, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Sneh Rana

Australia squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Darcie Brown, Tahlia McGrath (vc), Nicole Faltum, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Alana King, Charli Knott, Phoebe Litchfield, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham

2025 Women’s ODI World Cup

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

Australia’s warm-up match

September 28: v England, Bengaluru, Bengaluru, 7:30pm AEST

Australia’s group stage matches

October 1: v New Zealand, Holkar Stadium, Indore, 7:30pm AEST

October 4: v Sri Lanka, R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 7:30pm AEST

October 8: v Pakistan, R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 8:30pm AEDT

October 12: v India, ACA-VDCA Stadium Visakhapatnam, 8:30pm AEDT

October 16: v Bangladesh, ACA-VDCA Stadium Visakhapatnam, 8:30pm AEDT

October 22: v England, Holkar Stadium, Indore, 8:30pm AEDT

October 25: v South Africa, Holkar Stadium, Indore, 8:30pm AEDT

Finals

Semi-final 1: Guwahati or Colombo*, October 29, 8:30pm AEDT