NEW DELHI: A shaken India will need to show tactical flexibility and consider adding a sixth bowling option when they face defending champions Australia in Visakhapatnam on Sunday, as they look to revive their faltering ICC Women's World Cup campaign.

The three-wicket loss to South Africa on Thursday exposed the shortcomings of relying solely on a five-bowler strategy across all conditions.

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With no sixth bowling option available, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur was forced to roll her arm over. However, once the Proteas began attacking the pacers after the 40th over, India appeared short on ideas.

Kranti Gaud and Amanjot Kaur conceded 30 runs in just 12 balls across the 47th and 49th overs, allowing South Africa to chase down the 252-run target.

India's current bowling attack features two right-arm pacers (Gaud and Kaur), two off-spinners (Deepti Sharma and Sneh Rana), and a left-arm spinner (Sree Charani).

If the pitch at the ACA-VDCA stadium pitch holds true, the strong Aussies batting unit can put this rather unidimensional attack through the wringer with ease.

India will require a proper sixth bowler to summon if a crisis reoccurs, and Harmanpreet's part-time spin is nothing more than cannon fodder against a team like Australia, who have accomplished hitters like Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Ellyse Perry etc.

But selection of the sixth bowler is not a straightforward choice either.

India's bowling reserve

The hosts might prefer to add an extra spinner, if they indeed decide so, because Nadine de Klerk said South Africa had targeted Indian pacers as spinners were able to get some purchase off the deck in the last match here.

They have a left-arm spinner in seasoned Radha Yadav, who is also a reasonable lower-order batter.

One possibility is to bring her in place of Rana, but Australia have two left-handers in their line-up in Beth Mooney, who made a hundred against Pakistan in their previous match, and opener Phoebe Litchfield.

So, India might just like to keep the off-spinners with them as they can take the ball away from left-handers. India can bring in pacer Arundhati Reddy, possibly for Amanjot, but that again will rob them of some late-order batting solidity which has helped them more than once in this event,

India can also ponder over replacing Harleen Deol with Yadav but that will result in the erosion of considerable strength from an already malfunctioning top-order.

Worries at the top

Indian top-order batters’ struggles have become a recurring theme in this ODI showpiece. They were perilously close to a total shutdown against Sri Lanka and Pakistan before late order batters did the firefighting.

It turned into a reality against South Africa, and Australia, who have a varied and skillful attack, will punish such lapses quite mercilessly.

Heftier contributions from Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet and Jemimah Rodrigues is non-negotiable against the seven-time winners.

Mandhana, in particular, will have to raise her game to the pre-World Cup level - a phase when she made 928 runs from 14 innings at an average of 66.

Her feeble run at the top - 54 runs from three matches at 18 - has severely hurt the team in this tournament.

However, there is a comforting factor. Australia is one of her favourite opponents, stacking up 916 runs at 48.21 with four hundreds in ODIs.

India will be hoping that the graceful left-hander will unleash her magic once more to avoid slipping into an undesired tight space ahead of equally tough upcoming assignments against England and New Zealand.

Teams:

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Uma Chetry, Renuka Singh Thakur, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Sree Charani, Radha Yadav, Amanjot Kaur, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud.

Australia: Alyssa Healy (c), Darcie Brown, Ash Gardner, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham.

Match starts at 3 pm.

(With PTI Inputs)