India vs Australia LIVE Score, Women’s Hockey World Cup — Lineups announced; IND faces off AUS for semifinal place

India and Australia are familiar opponents for each other, having played recently. India toured Australia for four matches earlier in the year in Perth.

The series ended 2-2. Australia won the first match 2-1 before India hit back, taking the next two matches consecutively. However, the Aussies levelled the series with victory in the final match of the series to leave things all square.

Australia is the clear overwhelming favourite to win the contest, based on just the recent meetings. Since 2013, the two teams have met 18 times, and India has won just three games, while four have finished in draws.

Unlike the Netherlands, which is one of the most feared Penalty Corner attacks with Jibbi Jansen, Australia has been wasteful in its PC conversion. Its rate is lower than India at 14 per cent.

However, India still has to keep a check on Australia captain Claire Colwill and Abigail Wilson, who have each struck thrice in the tournament.

India has two lethal Penalty Corner specialists in Deepika and Navneet Kaur. But India has been guilty of wasting its chances from the short corner. Through the tournament, it has earned 16 PCs, converting just four of those. That’s a conversion rate of less than 19 per cent.

Jocelyn Bartram – Mariah Williams, Grace Stewart, Alana Kavangh, Caitlin Nobbs, Stephanie Kershaw, Alice Arnott, Abigail Wilson, Sarah Byrnes, Claire Colwill, Morgan Mathison

Savita – Shilpi Dabas, Jyoti, Sushila Chanu – Nikki Pradhan, Sunelita Toppo, Salima Tete, Neha – Deepika, Navneet, Lalremsiami

“I think we had a really good performance. Most important thing was that we dared to play hockey. That we’re not just pushing back and defending the circle. Against Netherlands, you want to go higher on the pitch and press higher, but they play such fast hockey, so it’s very difficult.”

India 2-2 China

India 6-1 South Africa

England 0-0 India

Netherlands 2-0 India

TV coverage: Live telecast on Star Sports Select 2 (SD+HD), Star Sports Khel, and DD Sports (DD Free Dish) for the free-to-air option.

Live streaming:JioHotstar will be live streaming the match, with a Hindi commentary feed available too.

The women in blue have not reached the semifinals of the World Cup since 1974, which was the inaugural edition of the tournament. It lost to Argentina 0-1 and finished in fourth place. Since then, India has finished inside the top eight only once, in 2018.

The equation is quite simple: Win and go through. Three points will take India’s tally to four, which help it overtake China and Australia.

A draw would mean that Australia go through despite having the same goal difference as India.

Why?

Because Australia has scored more goals than India. The Aussies have scored three goals in their two games against China and Netherlands, while India has scored just two.

1. The Netherlands – 9 points – GD: +7 – Qualified for semifinals

2. China – 2 points – GD: -3 – Knocked out

3. Australia – 1 point – GD: -2

4. India – 1 point – GD: -2

Both teams needed a bit of a favour from the Netherlands and the nine-time World champion delivered a thumping 4-1 win over China. The Paris Olympics silver medallist is now out of the race of the semifinals, thus leaving the path for one of India or Australia to qualify.

Stay tuned, ladies and gentlemen, we are in for some rollicking hockey at the Wagener Hockey Stadium.