Harris makes bid for T20I recall amid selection squeeze

Grace Harris has given national selectors a powerful reminder of the skills she possesses with the bat, as she makes her case for a return to the Australia T20 XI.

Harris was a late arrival in India after being left out of both the Test and ODI squad, but made a scene in her two training sessions in Mumbai, hammering teammates, net bowlers and throwdowns alike into the stands during net sessions at both Wankhede Stadium and DY Patil Stadium.

The latter venue, in Navi Mumbai, will host the three-game T20 series starting Friday (12.30am Saturday AEDT).

Harris produced some of the best form of her international career during Australia's last T20 tour of Mumbai in December 2022, with knocks of 41 off 18, 27no off 12 and 64no off 35.

But after a lean run at the T20 World Cup and the Ashes, the hard-hitting Queenslander was left out of Australia's XI for their most recent T20 series against the West Indies at home in September-October, replaced at No.6 by Phoebe Litchfield.

Litchfield had just returned from a breakout tournament at The Hundred and was selected in part to provide a left-hander in a middle-order otherwise stacked with right-handers. 

The 20-year-old took that opportunity and ran with it; she hit the equal-fastest T20I fifty off 19 balls in the second game, and followed up with a 17-ball 36 in the third.  

That, combined with Litchfield's form at the top of the order across the three India ODIs, where she hit 119, 78 and 63, makes it difficult to see her losing her spot – which is likely to be in the middle order, assuming Beth Mooney takes her usual position as T20 opener alongside Alyssa Healy.

Harris' other rivals for a middle-order berth are Ashleigh Gardner – who has failed to fire with the bat so far this tour but whose resume speaks for itself, while she is also Australia's current most valuable bowler – and Ellyse Perry, who boasted the highest strike-rate of any woman to face more than 200 deliveries in T20I cricket in 2023.  

Harris meanwhile issued her own reminder of her considerable skill during the Weber WBBL in October when she smashed a competition record 136no off 59 balls for the Brisbane Heat.

But selectors would likely need to consider a different balance to their XI to squeeze Harris in at No.7, leaving out a frontline bowler.

Harris does, of course, bowl off-spin, but it is a skill that has rarely been employed at international level.

They also have some tough calls to make on their spin and pace attacks for Thursday's series opener.

Darcie Brown was rested for the final ODI but if fit, will be in contention for one of likely two berths alongside Megan Schutt and Kim Garth.

Jess Jonassen is another potential inclusion after the left-arm spinner was benched for the ODIs, but will be battling in-form leg-spinners Alana King and Georgia Wareham for spots.

The powerful hitting ability of the two wrist spinners – Wareham has made a solid case to be considered an allrounder in her own right since returning from her ruptured ACL, while King hit six sixes across the final two one-dayers – also lengthens the Australian batting line-up, making Harris' path back into the side a little tougher.

"I feel like it's more and more important in the game at the moment," Wareham said of the ability to clear the boundaries from any position in the line-up. 

"Anytime you can finish an innings like Kingy has the last couple of games, and given us some momentum going into our bowling innings is gold.

"That bleeds into T20 cricket as well, you probably get given a few less balls at the end of the innings, but you want to make them count."

Meanwhile Shafali Verma is likely to return for India and rejoin Smriti Mandhana at the top of the order after being dropped for the final two one-dayers following a lean run in 50-over cricket.

Captain Harmanpreet Kaur shrugged off her own form concerns on the eve of the first T20I.

Kaur was dismissed for 9, 5 and 3 in the ODI series, and has failed to reach double figures in eight out of 14 white-ball internationals since last July.

"I have been getting the starts but unable to convert it into a big innings," Kaur told reporters in Mumbai. "Sometimes luck plays a part ... I have been getting out in very weird ways on a couple of occasions – I don't think I have played a wrong shot nor were they very good balls (that got her out).

"I am trying my level best to train and bat well, so that I don't feel I am out of form or not batting well."

Australia's CommBank Tour of India

Test match: India won by eight wickets

First ODI: Australia won by six wickets

Second ODI: Australia won by three runs

Third ODI: Australia won by 190 runs

January 5: First T20I, DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai

January 7: Second T20I, DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai

January 9: Third T20I, DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai

Australia squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Heather Graham, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham

India T20 squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Yastika Bhatia, Richa Ghosh, Amanjot Kaur, Shreyanka Patil, Mannat Kashyap, Saika Ishaque, Renuka Singh, Titas Sadhu, Pooja Vastrakar, Kanika Ahuja, Minnu Mani