India women vs Australia women: Mighty Aussies wary of spin threat ahead of one-off Test in Mumbai

The mighty Australia women’s cricket team will be wary of the spin threat that India are likely to pose when the two sides lock horns in the one-off Test in Mumbai starting Thursday.

Australia head coach Shelley Nitschke, however, maintained that while spin will be on their mind after the events of the India-England Test in Navi Mumbai, they’ll be ready to face anything challenge thrown at them.

“It’s a tough one to prepare for. The girls are coming off the back of a WBBL, and looks like we are going to get some really traditional subcontinent conditions but it’s also really exciting. Think everyone is just embracing the challenge. We are just doing whatever we can to prepare.

“Think it will just be a matter of how quickly that pitch deteriorates. It’s a matter of adapting on the run and not getting too far ahead of ourselves, thinking that it will do something. We are trying not to read too much into it, but we certainly know what way it could go but it will be interesting how much it does change across the four days.”

The Southern Stars have been training at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium ahead of what will be their first Test in India since 1984, and have also played a 50-over warm-up game to acclimatise themselves to the conditions in the subcontinent.

India had earlier demolished England in their first home Test in nine years, with the Heather Knight-led visitors failing to cross 150 in both of their outings as they crumbled to a 347-run defeat in three days.

All-rounder Deepti Sharma played a central role in the Indian victory — she was among the four Indian batters to score a half-century with a 113-ball 67, and would collect nine wickets for just 39 runs across the game (5/7 and 4/32) as the visitors were bundled out for scores of 136 and 131 respectively.

The Women in Blue and the Southern Stars will face off in three ODIs and as many T20Is after the one-off Test. While Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium will host the ODIs besides the Test, Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium will host the T20Is.