INDIA VS AUSTRALIA WOMEN'S T20 WORLD CUP LIVE SCORES

So Australia are taking the safest route - of setting a target in a big final. They biggest challenge for them is going to be how they handle India's never-arriving tweakers. Poonam Yadav. What a star she has become. She teases batsmen in the air, then does her bit off the pitch as well. Ask batters how frustrating it is to face her because she makes you enforce all the pace. Using the depth of the crease is key to playing her. Gee, she has a massive impact on this game, from both sides.

Pitch report: It's a rock hard surface, there's some nice grass on it. Not sure how much turn spinners will get on this surface. The ball will come on to the bat, the challenge for Australia will be against Poonam Yadav as she gets the ball up and down, with great drop, reckons Nasser Hussain.

Teams:

India Women (Playing XI): Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Taniya Bhatia(w), Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Veda Krishnamurthy, Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, Radha Yadav, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad

Australia Women (Playing XI): Alyssa Healy(w), Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning(c), Rachael Haynes, Ashleigh Gardner, Sophie Molineux, Nicola Carey, Jess Jonassen, Georgia Wareham, Delissa Kimmince, Megan Schutt

Harmanpreet Kaur: My mom's sitting somewhere in the stands. It's a pressure game and we also wanted to bat first. We are quite confident while chasing, hopefully the bowlers restrict them. We did some indoor practice. We are trying to staying together, because you are not getting games it tends to affect your focus. We want to treat this like any other game and give our best shot.

Meg Lanning: We are going to have a bat, looks a good wicket. Crowd's amazing, looking forward to it. Every game has been close, it's been cut-throat, but we need to be at our best today. India are a great side, hopefully it's a great game. We are going in with the same team tonight.

Australia Women have won the toss and have opted to bat

This could be a record breaking event when it comes to the attendance. Can it challenge the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup football final between USA and China? The attendance for that particular event was 90,815 - so can this finale topple that number? The atmosphere is buzzing, it's electrifying. So let's hope this match lives up to the hype and all those expectations. Happy Women's Day to all women across the world. On behalf of Ramki MS and Abhinand Raghavendran, this is Nikhil - all excited to take you through the live coverage of this final. Toss and teams are moments away. Stay tuned in for all the action.

Australia will miss the services of Ellyse Perry on the other hand. She has been one of the crucial members of Australian team over the last few years and with her missing out on this final, gives India a slight psychological advantage. Pressure of the expectations, pressure of playing in front of a huge crowd - it's going to be enormous. The mentally fittest survives, as simple as that. The stands are slowly starting to fill in as I see a huge queue outside the stadium. Plenty of Indian fans, plenty of Indian flags waving in the stands to support the Women in Blue.

Talking about India's performance in this tournament, Shafali Verma has single handedly dismantled oppositions with her aggression at the top. She's been an ascendancy right from the tournament opener. Started off with a brisk 29 against the Aussies, played an impressive knock of 39 against Bangladesh Women, a crucial knock of 46 against New Zealand and a match defining innings of 47 against Sri Lanka Women. But the big guns are yet to fire. Be it Smriti Mandana or the Indian captain - Harmanpreet Kaur. Can they walk the talk today? India would definitely want them to.

Cricket | India vs Australia | And a World Cup final. Can it get any better? Two teams who’ve dominated world cricket over the last several years come face to face today - at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. G’day people! Welcome to the grand finale of Women’s T20 World Cup as India take on defending champions - Australia. The Australian Men’s team has five world cup titles in the 50-over format, while the Australian Women’s team has a chance to clinch their fifth T20 World Cup title today. Mitchell Starc missed out the third ODI against South Africa yesterday and has already flown back from South Africa to support his better half - Alyssa Healy, it’s that big. A great occasion for the Aussie speedster, who of course will be joined by more than fifty 75000 spectators. India Women are playing their first ever World Cup final in this format and they’ve been on a roll with four successive wins in the tournament. But it’s the finals day that matters. Nothing else does.