Ellyse Perry and Kim Garth missed out as the Australian women face India in the first ODI of the three-match series at the Gabba, Brisbane. The two sides are locking horns for the first time since the 2025 ODI World Cup semifinal, when India registered a miraculous win over the Aussies en route to their title run.
In a big blow to Australia, both all-rounder Perry and fast bowler Garth have been ruled out of the entire ODI series due to their quad injuries that they sustained during the third T20I against India earlier. Australia skipper Alyssa Healy, playing her final ODI series before her retirement, confirmed the news at the toss after India opted to bat first.
“No Perry, no Garth. Got some injuries picked up in the third T20. That’s probably the two notable changes,” Healy said at the toss. The Aussie skipper, who will retire after the Test against India later, said she would have bowled first anyway.
“Happy days. I would have loved to bowl first. So we’ve got a desired result, but we’ve obviously got to start really well and make use of this fresh wicket. It’s been very, very unusual, I will say that, but also really enjoyable to sort of, you know, watch what’s going to unfold in a couple of games’ time anyway,” Healy added.
“So it’s nice to be back, nice to be put under the pressure by the Indian side. They’ve started really well in the series, so, we’re going to have to fight really well in this ODI series to wrestle back some momentum. I just think starting really well in this series. We’ve prided ourselves on our one-day game. We like these conditions and we play really well in these conditions. So hopefully, we can remain consistent to that in what we do really well, and hopefully, that throws the first punch,” she said.
Pratika Rawal back for India
Meanwhile, India opted to bat with Pratika Rawal returning for India after recovering from the ankle injury that she picked during the ODI World Cup. India have also fielded Shafali Verma, and she is slated in at No.3 as Harleen Deol misses out.
“We’ll bat first. I think batting first will be a better option for us today. So that’s why, as a group, we decided that we’ll bat first. I feel an opportunity, because when we played the World Cup, we all had a lot of fun and hopefully today also we’ll have fun. We do have a few changes. Kashvee is back in the side. And I’ll give you my playing list so you can just go through it,” India skipper Harmanpreet said after winning the toss.
Australia Women (Playing XI): Alyssa Healy(c), Phoebe Litchfield, Georgia Voll, Beth Mooney(w), Annabel Sutherland, Ashleigh Gardner, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Alana King, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown
India Women (Playing XI): Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal, Shafali Verma, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh(w), Deepti Sharma, Kashvee Gautam, Shree Charani, Kranti Gaud, Renuka Singh Thakur
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