INDW vs AUSW, 1st T20I Review: Smriti Mandhana's fifty in vain as Australia hunt down target with ease

Indians were thumped by the Aussie women side in the 3-match ODI series. Attention now was moved to the T20I tri-series involving Australia and England. India led by Harmanpreet Kaur on their previous outing in the format had beaten South African 3-1 in 5-match T20I series in South Africa.

The Australians played T20 during Women’s Big Bash League and were certainly prepared after a successful stint for their respective sides. Their ODI-series victory would’ve made them even more confident going into the series.

Australia after winning the toss had opted to field first. Indian had brought the experienced duo of pacers Jhulan Goswami and Rumeli Dhar in their side while Australia had a debutant in their side in Sophie Molineux.

Mandhana powers India to a great start

Smriti Mandhana has been going through a superb run at the moment and she did not miss the chance here as well as she helped India to a flying start with her superb strokeplay during the power play. Mithali Raj, on the other hand, was playing the role of anchor. Mandhana and Raj added 72 runs in just 9 overs before Raj getting stumped in order to score quickly.

Mandhana completed her fifty with a superb pull off Ellyse Perry in the 9th over of the innings. She fell for 67 runs of just 41 balls in the 14th over.

Perry strikes twice

With 100 on the board in the 14th over, one would feel India will manage to post a huge total. However, Perry returned and struck twice in same over to leave India on the backfoot. She sent Kaur and Rodrigues in the span of 2 deliveries in the 15h over. A little cameo from Anuja Patil during the last 3 overs took India’s total to 152 runs. Patil scored 31 runs off just 25 balls while Veda Krishnamurthy remained unbeaten on 15 off 10 deliveries.

Jhulan jolts Australia early

Jhulan Goswami on her return didn’t take much time to pick a wicket as she struck twice in two overs after being hit for a couple of boundaries in both the overs. However, she didn’t get support from the other end as Beth Mooney and Elyse Villani took control. The two with a 79-run stand took the game away from India.

Jhulan returned to remove Mooney but not before she had put Australia in a commanding position through her 45-run inning which included 8 fours. Villani’s innings was cut short by Poonam Yadav when she was on 39 and Australians were 112 runs.

Skipper Meg Lanning along with Rachael Haynes made sure there was no twist and turn further as they stitched unbeaten 44-run stand to take Australia home.

Brief Scores:

India Women: 152/5 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 67; Ashleigh Gardner 3/22)

Australia Women: 156/4 in 18.1 overs (Beth Mooney 45; Jhulan Goswami 3/30)