Birmingham [UK], July 29 (HornbillTV/ANI): Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss against Australia and elected to bat first in their tournament opener against the world champions at the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham on Friday.

This is the first time women’s cricket will be played at CWG and overall second time the sport will be played at the multi-sport event, with the last time being 1998.

Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said during the toss: “Wicket looks good. We have trained hard for the last couple of months and see what works for us. The side is looking positive. We are going with three spinners, two medium pacers, the keeper and the rest batters.”

Australian skipper Meg Lanning said at the toss: “Will be enjoyable to go out first as a team on the field. Preparation has been good, we are ready to play. We have played in big competitions. (Extra pressure?) We are so used to it to be honest. We want to win every game we play. It is a new tournament, difficult to win, but want to enjoy the challenge.”

India XI: Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Meghna Singh (debut), Renuka Thakur.

Australia XI: Alyssa Healy (wk), Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning (c), Tahlia McGrath, Rachael Haynes, Ashleigh Gardner, Grace Harris, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown.

Commonwealth Games started in Birmingham on July 28 and will go on till August 8.