An Indian team desperate to keep their T20 World Cup dream alive and a sold-out Lord’s crowd will provide the ideal litmus test for Australia’s ability to seize big moments under pressure, vice-captain Ashleigh Gardner says.
Australia have sailed through their first four group matches to sit a game clear on top of the group one table with one game to go.
They have not truly been under pressure since they were 2-24 four overs into their opening match of the tournament against South Africa on June 13, and their four wins so far have come by margins of 65 runs, nine wickets, 98 runs and 113 runs.
Those results have given them a massive net run-rate of 4.724, well ahead of second-ranked India on 2.268 and third-ranked South Africa on 0.734.
While all three of those teams could finish on eight points, India would need to defeat Australia by an enormous margin to move ahead of them on the table.
Harmanpreet Kaur’s team, on the other hand, will more than likely be sent home if they lose to Australia, given South Africa are strong favourites to win their final game against Bangladesh.
While the same jeopardy does not exist for Australia, they would dearly like to vanquish the team who knocked them out of last year’s ODI World Cup, carry on their winning momentum heading into the semi-finals and ensure they maintain top seeding in group one.
“People love this fixture, and certainly we do as players as well,” Gardner said at Lord’s on Friday of matches between Australia and India.
“We always have to just look back at our most recent games against the Indian team, in all formats, and they’re always going down to the wire, which I think for the fans is awesome and also just as players we love the challenge.
“We obviously want to finish top, and if we win, we do that.
“(It’s about) making sure that we’ve got those plans in place, because certainly their batters have got on top of us before, and being able to fight back is going to be really important.
“The (Lord’s) slope is a whole different thing with plenty of left-right (batting combinations) within their line-up as well.
“There’s lots of different things that we need to consider, but I think if we’re well planned, which we normally are, we should be fine.”
Australia had their first training session at Lord’s on Friday, with their entire squad getting their first look at the venue ahead of Sunday’s match.
A failure to seize the key-defining moments under pressure was pinpointed as a reason behind that semi-final loss in Navi Mumbai, and in Australia’s 2024 T20 World Cup knockout loss to the Proteas.
Australia have made a concerted effort to work on that facet of their game in the lead-up to this tournament, both off-field during sessions with their team performance psychologist and on-field during training drills.
Gardner said on Friday, however, that there was no replacement for facing the real thing.
“It’s an interesting one, because (that pressure) is very hard to manufacture,” she said.
“We try and do it in our fielding stuff, but when there’s the expectation and the pressure from a massive crowd that probably aren’t cheering for you, and sometimes when you’re behind the eight-ball in the actual game, how do you find that edge?
“And for us, we know that every team is going to be under pressure, we’ve just got to handle it the best.
“We haven’t been put under too much pressure as of yet, but we know that India pose a whole different threat that we probably haven’t come up against yet.
“We know that India are going to put us under pressure no doubt throughout this game, and it’s being able to bounce back from that, and if we are losing the momentum, how can we grab it back.
“We know that the game can ebb and flow with these guys, they obviously have some real match winners within their side, so making sure that we’re doing the one percenters really well, and we’re really prepared before we walk out into the field.
“In saying that, we’ve played a lot of cricket against them, we’ve played with those players as well, so we kind of know how they’re going to operate, so it’s just doing those small things really well and just trying to win the big moments as well.”
India meanwhile are drawing confidence from their recent record against Australia and their performances under pressure in World Cups.
They chased down a world record target in last year’s semi-final in Navi Mumbai, and earlier in the tournament, fought back after finding themselves on the cusp of missing the knockouts altogether.
India also claimed a rare T20I series win over Australia in February, defeating them in a white-ball series for just the second time.
“After the South Africa game, we had a team huddle – we spoke about (the fact) that this is not something new for us,” India spinner Radha Yadav said of their do-or-die predicament.
“We have done it before also – so we just told each other to keep smiling.
“It’s such a high-pressure game, especially for India – obviously there are so many expectations for everyone – so nothing else, just smile and enjoy.
“Everyone has performed, everyone knows their game, anyone can pull the match out of any situation, so there’s no doubt about anyone.
“So you can only back each other and nothing else.”
ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026
Australia squad: Sophie Molineux (c), Ashleigh Gardner (vc), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Nicola Carey, Kim Garth, Lucy Hamilton, Grace Harris, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham. Travelling reserve: Tahlia Wilson
Australia’s Group 1 fixtures
June 13: beat South Africa by 65 runs
June 17: beat Bangladesh by nine wickets
June 20: beat Netherlands by 98 runs
June 24: beat Pakistan by 113 runs
June 28: v India, Lord’s, London, 11:30pm AEST
Semi-final 1: The Oval, London, June 30, 11:30pm AEST
Semi-final 2: The Oval, London, July 2 (3:30am July 3 AEST)
Final: Lord’s, London, July 5, 11:30pm AEST
Click here for the full tournament schedule
All matches will be broadcast on Amazon’s Prime Video
