Australia put on a brilliant all-round show in the six-wicket win to level the three-match series against Team India in the 2nd Women's T20I at At DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Sunday, January 7.
With a target of 131, Australia chased it down with an over to spare. Ellsey Perry and Phoebe Litchfield remained unbeaten on 34 and 18, respectively. Skipper Alyssa Healy (26), Beth Mooney (20), and Tahila McGrath (19) also contributed in visitors' run-chase against Women in Blue.
For Team India, Deepti Sharma scalped two wickets, while Shreyanka Patil and Pooja Vastrakar picked a wicket each.
Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney provided a good start for Australia in the run-chase. The opening pair formed 51-run partnership until the captain was dismissed for 26 by Deepti Sharma. Then, Australia lost its second wicket in Mooney for 20, dismissed by Deepti at 58/2.
Thereafter, Tahila McGrath (19) and Ellsey Perry (34*) kept Australia's batting going until the former was sent back to pavilion by Shreyanka Patil at 89/3. The visitors lost another quick wicket in Ashleigh Garden for 7 at 97/4.
After Gardener's dismissal, Perry and Phoebe Litchfield led Australia's batting. The pair formed an unbeaten 36-run partnership to chase down the target of 130 in 19 overs.
Australia restrict India to 130/8
After being tamed by Shafali Varma and Smriti Mandhana in the Women's T20I series opener, Australian bowlers made a good comeback and restrict Women in Blue to 130/8 in 20 overs.
Kim Grath, Annabel Sutherland, and Georgia Wareham contributed with the ball significantly by scalping two wickets each.
For India, Shafali Verma (1), Jemimah Rodrigues (6), and Harmanpreet Kaur (6) failed to deliver with the bat. Indian batters struggled to get going against Australian bowling attack. Yet again, the middle-order failed to step up when needed, except Deepti Sharma.
Deepti Sharma emerged as the top-scorer for visitors, with 30 off 27 balls, followed by Smriti Mandhana and Richa Ghosh, who scored 23 runs each.
Captain's Corner
"The score wasn't enough, still our bowlers did well and we took it till the 19th over which was our biggest positive. We need to think about the areas we need to improve. We were thinking 150 would be a good total, but we kept losing wickets and Australia bowled really nicely as well." Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said.
"These close games give you areas you need to improve and keep doing the right things. We have seen these type of games a lot of times and this time we have so many new faces and we will definitely improve (as a team) with experience." she added.
"We probably still didn't execute as well as we would have liked, but nice to get a win and take it to the decider. The average score is around 145, so we knew that if we keep them under 140 that would give us a good chance with the bat." Australian captain Alyssa Healy said.
"I have actually seen Garth taken a fifer in WPL, and she absolutely loves these conditions. We just need to be more clinical, the bowlers responded really well but the batters got a few things to work on." she added.
