The four-time winners will be without Ellyse Perry while the first-time finalists will be expected much of Shafali Verma
It is probably worth addressing the elephant in the room regarding this subject. There is no replacing Ellyse Perry in this Australia team. You don't find a mere single stand-in for such an iconic figure of women's cricket.
As with the loss of any dominating allrounder, their absence often leaves a team with a selection dilemma. Picking one specialist or another leaves you open to being too weighted towards one discipline.
Seven of Australia's squad have featured in all five of their tournament matches, while Nicola Carey has featured in four. They are all shoo-ins for the MCG.
While Perry has struggled with the bat, with the ball she had been one of Australia's top performers. Her tournament record was 12-0-60-1 before a hamstring injury forced her to limp away from contention.
It is that frugal skill in the middle-overs that Meg Lanning will be keen to replicate. It has been a tournament dominated largely by spin, hence Sophie Molineux getting her opportunity in the semi-final and Georgia Wareham forcing her way into the first team.
It might be at pace off the ball is preferred again, with perhaps even Molly Strano who wasn't even involved until Tayla Vlaeminck's pre-tournament injury, getting a go.
Vlaeminck's absence has denied Australia one of the quickest bowlers around, but equally, it does allow them some flexibility. The Victorian might have struggled to exert pace from some placid tournament surfaces but she would have been largely undroppable.
Perry will be watching from the sidelines, preparing for six months out of the sport and surgery on her hamstring injury, but it is how Australia respond without her which will define the outcome of the final.
Australia captain Meg Lanning sends warning to India ahead of Women's T20 World Cup final
England's Nat Sciver may well end the World Cup as its highest run-scorer. Poonam Yadav might claim the most wickets. But neither will have left the same mark on the tournament as India's teenage opener.
Verma has been a fearless and talented feature of India's batting line-up. She has taken on opponents without a care in the world for reputations. It has been a remarkable onslaught.
Each of her four knocks have displayed her incredible ability to launch the ball down the ground and back from where it came. To display such guts on a stage such as this, not least the technique to take on bowlers at her age and stage is truly inspiring.
There is little doubt she arrives in Melbourne as India's prized wicket, despite the esteemed company she keeps in her own dressing room. An early wicket suddenly puts the first-time finalists on the back foot and would rob them of one of the cleanest hitters in their arsenal.
And it is not beyond the realms of possibility that a premature exit could be in the offing. Verma has offered up chances in virtually every innings she has played. Her scores read 29, 39, 46, 47, but they could quite easily be lower. Fielders have been hospitable and it is unlikely Australia will be as forgiving.
Consequently, an aspect of this final rests on a 16-year-old from Haryana who has played more than a fifth of her entire international career in this competition. No pressure, then.
Harmanpreet Kaur's use of her bowlers will be vital
Whether there was a degree of complacency to their performance or not, Australia were hopeless in their attempt to keep out Poonam Yadav in the opening game in Sydney.
The spinner took 4-19 that day. Batters came in and would naively come at Yadav, and looked rather silly in doing so.
While Australia will be eager to find a solution to playing the 28-year-old, Yadav will be hoping the hosts have a brain fade again.
You imagine Alyssa Healy, Rachael Haynes and co will have had their dismissals on repeat over the last few weeks, attempting to deconstruct and analyse why they were outsmarted.
It seemed clear that Australia's batters were not paying attention to the downfall of their teammates. Three of her four victims came via the wrong'un, which eventually turned into a stock delivery.
Amelia Kerr showed how Yadav's threat might be curbed with a fine display in India's narrow win over New Zealand. She opted to start down the pitch, confuse Yadav with her length, and then rock back and take advantage.
It was a strategy which worked well, but how Australia approach her will be vital in determining their batting success. It will also be up to India captain Harmanpreet Kaur to ensure she deploys her at the right time, keeping the pressure on Australia and not losing her influence too early.
Both sides have a delicate balancing act to strike.
Christina Matthews led Australia to World Cup glory on home soil in 1988
As women's international cricket continues to grow and broaden, it might be that Australia will never have a more talented or unrelenting group of players in their history.
They have multiple Ashes and World Cup winners, individuals who have achieved everything there is to in the sport. There is almost nowhere for them to go.
A degree of carelessness - only human given the droves of awards the team have claimed in recent years - has slipped into their tournament displays.
Stages such as this will, of course, inspire their opponents but even so, they should have had way too much for some. If the defeat to India and close shave against New Zealand was not overly shocking, then the collapse against Sri Lanka certainly was.
Rousing themselves for a 10th final in the last 13 ICC events might be the biggest challenge of them all. Success is joyous, but it is only human nature that it eventually becomes monotonous and unfulfilling.
There will at least be some freshness to the victory if indeed it does come. Australia haven't won a tournament on home soil since 1988 when they overcame England at the MCG.
Christina Matthews' side won by eight wickets on that occasion, chasing down their target of 198 with more than 15 of the scheduled 60 to bowl. Lindsay Reeler came to the party again with a second half-century of a glittering tournament.
What Lanning would give for another comfortable evening in Melbourne this time around.
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