After being invited to bat first in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup opener by Australia, India have managed to score runs in their designated quota of 20 overs. Initially, India got off to a flying start as Smrithi Mandhana and Shafali Verma added 40 runs in the first 4 overs.
However, as soon as Mandhana was dismissed in the 5th over by Jess Jonassen, Australia managed to put a break to India’s scoring rate. Soon after, Ellyse Perry dismissed Shafali Verma and the powerplay overs fetched 46 runs with the loss of both their openers for India.
A pulsating start to the #T20WorldCup
Shafali Verma got India off to a blistering start before Jess Jonassen pulled them back. Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma helped India recover, and Australia need 133 to win.
Who’s ahead at this stage?#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/6esj9zLiZE
— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) February 21, 2020
Although India expected their captain to come to their rescue with a solid batting partnership, she failed to make it big at the Sydney Showground Stadium against hosts Australia and was stumped by Alyssa Healy off Jonassen.
However, the duo of Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma did manage to bring India back in the chase. They led the women in Blue’s revival as they stitched together a total of 53 runs for the fourth wicket. Just when it appeared that the duo will press the accelerator pedal, Rodrigues was dismissed by Delissa Kimmince caught plumb in front of the wickets.
It was all up to Sharma (49) and Veda Krishnamurthy to try and take India to a competitive total against the hosts. Sharma helped India get 15 runs off the 17th over by Jonassen but still, it wasn’t enough to help India cross the 150 run mark.
For the hosts, Jonassen picked a couple of wickets for 24 runs while Delissa Kimmince and Perry chipped in with a wicket each.
Australia would now look to chase down the total and start the tournament on a winning note.