AUS W vs IND W: Mithali Raj, Smriti Mandhana start training ahead of clash against Aussies

The Indian national women's cricket team has begun their preparations ahead of the multi-format series against Australia. The BCCI Women turned to social media to share a couple of pictures from Team India's practice session in Australia. In the pictures that the BCCI shared online, Indian women cricket stars, including the likes of Harmanpreet Kaur, Mithali Raj, Smriti Mandhana, and Shafali Verma, could be seen toiling hard under the sun. "Prep on ahead of the #AUSvIND series," BCCI Women captioned the post. 

The Indian women's team is slated to play a three-match ODI series against Australia followed by a one-off Test and three T20Is, starting September 21. Both teams will get an opportunity to test each others' skills ahead of the multi-format series on September 19, when they will lock horns for a warm-up match. Team India players had arrived in Australia late last month following which they had to undergo a strict isolation period for 14 days before being allowed to mingle and start training. 

When India takes the field for the first ODI on September 21, Mithali Raj's side will be looking to start new and forget about Australia's dominance in their prior encounters in the past. India has never won an ODI or Test series in Australia, and the players will be desperate to alter that once the series gets underway next Tuesday. India has only won one bilateral series in Australia, which took place in early 2016 during a three-match T20I series.

Earlier, Indian opener Smriti Mandhana had said that her side loves playing against Australia because of the competitiveness they bring to the table while playing the sport. Mandhana, while speaking to The Scoop podcast, said her side has improved significantly since the last time they played against Australia, which came in the final of the T20 World Cup, where the Women in Blue lost handily. 

Australia vs India squads 

Australia squad: Meg Lanning (Captain), Rachael Haynes (Vice-Captain), Darcie Brown, Maitlan Brown, Stella Campbell, Nicola Carey, Hannah Darlington, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Georgia Redmayne, Molly Strano, Annabel Sutherland, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham.

India Test and ODI squad: Mithali Raj (Captain), Harmanpreet Kaur (Vice-Captain), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Punam Raut, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Shikha Pandey, Jhulan Goswami, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Richa Ghosh, Ekta Bisht.

India T20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (Vice-Captain), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Shikha Pandey, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Richa Ghosh (wk), Harleen Deol, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Renuka Singh.

Image: PTI/BCCIWomen/Twitter