We're really itching to go out there and bat – Smriti Mandhana

There was a point in time when Smriti Mandhana was in awe of the Australian team – the star, dominant forces of women's cricket. Over the course of her playing career, that awe has faded away – probably less by familiarity than her dominance against them.

Over the past 12 years in international cricket, Mandhana has created a reputation as one of Australia's most formidable opponents. In ODIs, she hasn't scored more runs against any team than against Australia; in T20Is, that record is second only to England.

Come Sunday's must-win encounter, Mandhana is 'itching to have a go' at the Australian bowlers – at Lord's. She was speaking on behalf of the entire batting unit.

"Everyone in the batting unit is itching to go," Mandhana confessed on Saturday, a day ahead of India's last group game against Australia. "We've been speaking a lot in the batting meeting about how we really want to go out there and bat with intent."

But she also admitted that the batting unit hasn't carried itself with as much threat in the ongoing England tour. Harmanpreet Kaur has been scratchy, Jemimah Rodrigues has been short of runs, and Yastika Bhatia isn't doing enough to carry forward the momentum provided by the openers.

"It's not happened as much as we would have loved to, but having said that, we all are really itching to go out there tomorrow and bat," Mandhana admitted.

Much of that batting worry has come because of the middle order unable to carry forward the strong starts provided by at least one of the two openers. Lord's may not be the highest-scoring venue, but there are areas to target. The boundary ropes are likely to be much closer on one side of the ground – where the slope goes downwards.

Irrespective of what front is put up against Australia, their opponents know the pressure India will be carrying. Skipper Sophie Molineux has done her share of talk already.

"We know that there's a bit of pressure on them, and hopefully we can double down on that and put pressure on them as well quite early in the game," Molineux said on Friday.

Mandhana opted not to play up the Australian threat. "The gap (between India and Australia) has definitely narrowed with few of our players playing Big Bash, and them playing the WPL," she said. "The experience has been shared… especially in T20 cricket, it's just about whichever team is having a good day is going to win the match."

She added that it's imperative players don't get over-awed by the occasion and the venue. "We've always had good contests against them. I've always looked forward to playing them because they are one of the best in the world. We all have to really go out, play the ball, and not anything else. Not the situation, not anything else."

Australia won't be an easy opposition to go past; they've rarely ever been. Out of 24 of the 27 matches they have played across the last five T20 World Cup editions, they have lost only twice. Ironically, two of those three defeats have come against India.

There are more recent contests to remind of their strengths too – the T20I series played earlier this year in Australia, where India secured a 2-1 win. Mandhana hopes to lean on those. "We did well in the T20 format in Australia. We'll take a lot of confidence from that. Hopefully we can take all of those experiences and memories and play the best we can tomorrow."