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The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 has finally reached it business end with the much-awaited final to be played on February 26. After many battles and close contests between ten teams from around the world, we finally have our two finalists who will be fighting it out for one last time for the ultimate honour: defending champions Australia and host nation South Africa.
While Australia will be aiming to bag a hat-trick of T20 World Cup title wins, hosts South Africa must be eager to make the most out of their debut final appearance, in front of their home crowd. Let’s take a look at three players from both sides who are the players to watch out for :-
Shabnim Ismail
Shabnim Ismail was the star and the reason why South Africa have grabbed their maiden ticket to the World Cup final. Completely running through the England batting line-up in the second semi-final, Ismail unleashed her beast mode on and kept her best for the deciding over. With 13 runs to win, Ismail just gave away six runs and bagged the wicket of Heather Knight to set a summit clash with Australia.
She will be a major threat to the Australian batters because of her raw pace and ability to make the opposition batters feel flustered at any point of the game.
Ashleigh Gardner
This all-rounder is currently ranked world no.1 in T20Is and she justified her ranking to the fullest yet again against India in the first semi-final. Bagging two crucial wickets with the ball and pounding 31 runs off 18 deliveries with the bat, the 25-year-old was a sight to behold. Gardner will once again be the key to Australia’s attempts to yet another glory on the world stage and a player to watch out for.
Tazmin Brits
Tazmin Brits was the pick of the batters for South Africa in their semi-final clash against England as she struck a crucial 68-run knock off 55 deliveries to help the Proteas women post a challenging total for England, thus earning her the Player of the Match award. She is also second on the list of leading run-scorers in the ongoing World Cup. Her brilliant stroke play is enough to wreak havoc on the opposition bowlers and she will definitely be a player to watch out for.
