Australia Women have locked their place in the final of the Women's World T20. Now, the Aussies will await the winners of the second semifinal, between New Zealand Women and the West Indies Women, to be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai Thursday.
Meg Lanning's side showed their big-match skills yet again, holding their nerves better than England to seal their place in a fourth straight World T20 final. The defending champions will know they will have a difficult task at hand in the finale, irrespective of who joins them, be that New Zealand or West Indies.
The New Zealand Women are the form team of the Women's World T20, winning all four of their group stage matches, including one against Australia. But as the New Zealand men's cricket team found out, going into the semifinal unbeaten means very little, if they do not turn it on in the semifinal.
"We've made it to the next step, which is the semifinal round, and I think there's every chance to go all the way," New Zealand Women skipper Suzie Bates was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz. "We've got to turn up and play as good cricket as we've been playing all tournament.
"I'm definitely confident, but we've got a game against the West Indies before we talk about the final."
West Indies, who sealed their place in the semifinals with a narrow win over India Women, are trying to break the semifinal hoodoo. Stafanie Taylor's women have made it to the final four of the World T20 in the last three editions, only to fail to cross that line and make the final. They will hope it is fourth time lucky come Thursday in Mumbai.
"The vibes are fantastic and that's what I want," Taylor was quoted by Stuff.co.nz. "I am pretty much confident in my bowling attack. I think when I look at my bowling attack, it might be one of the best bowling attacks in this tournament.
"So, I think any total that we post on the board, my bowlers could actually defend that."
New Zealand have been the team to beat in this WT20 so far, doing just what they have needed to do, much like their men's team. The key will be to keep that intensity level up against a powerful West Indies batting unit, who play with the kind of flair only a Caribbean team can bring.
With the Wankhede wicket expected to encourage run-scoring, this could be a women's World T20 semifinal to savour.
Where to Watch Live
The Women's World T20 semifinal between New Zealand and West Indies is scheduled for a 2.30 p.m. IST (9 a.m. GMT, 10 a.m. BST, 4 a.m. ET) start. The women's semifinal will be shown live in India and the rest of the subcontinent live on Star Sports 1, Star Sports HD1, Star Sports 3 and Star Sports HD3. Viewers in India can also watch the WT20 women's match by live streaming online on Starsports online and Hotstar.
Viewers in New Zealand will be able watch the match live on Sky Sport and Sky Go NZ. ESPN and ESPN Player are the options to watch the women's match in the Caribbean.
Fox Sports will show the match live in Australia, while the live streaming option is on Foxtel. Sky Sports 2 will show the match live in the UK , while the live stream option is on Sky Go and Watch Sky Sports.
Audience in South Africa and Sub Saharan Africa can watch the World T20 semifinal action live on SuperSport, with the online live stream option on SuperSport Live Video.
Viewers in the Middle East and North Africa can watch the WT20 action live on OSN Sports Cricket HD. The online live stream option for the match is on OSN Play.
Willow TV will broadcast the Women's semifinal live in the US and Canada, while all the action can also be live streamed on Willow TV Online.
