IND-W vs AUS-W 2022: Alyssa Healy ruled out of final T20I with calf injury, Tahlia McGrath to lead

Australia stand-in skipper Alyssa Healy has been ruled out of the fifth and final T20I against India due to a calf injury. Vice-captain Tahlia McGrath will take over as the skipper of the side in the final clash against the Women in Blue, slated to be played on December 20.

The visitors have already clinched the series 3-1 with a match still to go and will aim for yet another result in their favour when they play the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. The Aussies have dominated the series thus far under Healy's leadership. However, with her exclusion from the side due to the injury, the doors have opened for McGrath to display her leadership skills with the national side.

"I'm new to leadership in this team and been learning a lot on the fly and it probably worked in my favour that I didn't have long to think about it. I was strangely calm out there, I had a lot of support. I had to try and stay calm and keep the team calm,” told McGrath was quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

Tahlia McGrath skippered Adelaide Strikers to win the WBBL 2022

McGrath has some experience of captaincy as she guided Adelaide Strikers to win the Women’s Big Bash League in November. Furthermore, she took over as the captain in previous T20I after Healy left the field due to injury.

"I've come off the back of captaining Strikers for six weeks where it's high pressure. The best players in the world are there and that's what it felt like, I was captaining the Strikers with a few extra players,” added McGrath.

Phoebe Litchfield, who has been kept on the sidelines, is likely to feature in the forthcoming fixture as a replacement for the injured skipper.  "We haven't decided yet," McGrath said. "But I think the good news is we've got a lot of options, whether Pheebs [Litchfield] comes in, she's done it in the Big Bash, myself, Pez [Perry]. We've got so many options but we'll have to wait and see."