Alyssa Healy is excited by the challenge her UP Warriorz face when they play Harmanpreet Kaur's Mumbai Indians for a spot in the inaugural Women's Premier League final.
Skipper Healy and Australian teammates Tahlia McGrath and Grace Harris can expect the sellout crowd at the 50,000-capacity DY Patil Stadium near Mumbai to be strongly behind the Indians in Friday's eliminator.
At stake is a spot in Sunday's title decider against Australia skipper Meg Lanning's Delhi Capitals.
The Indians - under national captain Kaur and with Australian Heather Graham in their ranks - dropped only two of eight games in the regular season to finish second on the ladder behind the Capitals (also 6-2).
In the two times they met the Warriorz previously, the Indians won the first fixture by eight wickets at the Brabourne Stadium and lost the second by five wickets at the DY Patil Stadium in a final-over thriller.
The Warriorz, one of the two franchises without a team in the men's equivalent IPL, were third with four wins and head into the eliminator on the back of a five-wicket loss to the Capitals on Tuesday.
"Look, I am really excited to be part of the finals. It's exactly what we wanted to do," Healy told the host broadcaster then.
"Coming up against Mumbai - I know DY Patil Stadium is going to be absolutely chock-a-block on Friday night, so I am really excited for that and hopefully all the girls are as well.
"We have played well against Mumbai over the last week; we know that, but we have to fix a few areas and reflect pretty quickly ... and get ourselves going."
McGrath (second), Healy (fifth) and Harris (ninth) all feature among the top 10 run-scorers of the tournament behind Lanning.
Spin bowling is expected to dictate terms in the playoffs.
The top 10 wicket-takers in the league are topped and tailed by the Warriorz finger spin pair of Sophie Ecclestone (England) and Deepti Sharma.
But the Indians' spin trio of Amelia Kerr (New Zealand), Saika Ishaque and West Indies' Hayley Matthews are all among the top five.
Wristspinner Kerr's legbreaks and googlies in particular could be a handful on the sluggish DY Patil surface.
