Australia on Sunday defeated India by 85 runs to win their 5th ICC Women’s T20 World Cup title. Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney shone with the bat earlier to help their team post a mammoth total of 184/4 before the bowlers bowled out India for 99 at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Women’s #T20WorldCup winners:

2009 – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
2010 – 🇦🇺
2012 – 🇦🇺
2014 – 🇦🇺
2016 – 🌴
2018 – 🇦🇺
2020 – 🇦🇺

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On another level. pic.twitter.com/CNQ5zvJCxG

— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) March 8, 2020

The Indian team were playing their maiden T20 World Cup final in comparison to Australia’s sixth. And the inexperience of the Women in Blue was exposed to perfection by the home team as they took the steering wheel of the match from the word go.

Two dropped catches by the Indians in the initial moments worked as the catalyst for the Australian openers to begin their onslaught which lasted for 12 overs and fetched 115 runs.

Healy was the wrecker-in-chief, and the Player of the Match, with her innings of 75 runs in 39 deliveries, while Mooney played an unbeaten knock of 78 off 54 balls. Skipper Meg Lanning also contributed to the team’s cause with 16 in 15 balls.

The Indian bowlers, who fared relatively well in the build-up to the final and had their opponents restricted to lower totals in all the group matches, did not look at their usual best and went all around the park.

Star Indian bowler Poonam Yadav also gave away 30 runs in her quota of 4 overs picking up a wicket only in her last over Rachael Haynes. Deepti Sharma took two but they came at a hefty cost of 38 runs, while lone pacer Shikha Pandey gave Australia 52 runs without any interest.

Chasing, India’s highest scorer of the tournament and number one T20I batswoman of the world Shafali Verma got out for two in the third delivery of the innings. India’s cause was further deterred after wicketkeeper-batswoman Taniya Bhatia got hit in her head and walked off the field.

Trying to steady the ship, captain Harmanpreet Kaur joined Smriti Mandhana at the middle. Despite the fact that India’s final hopes rested on their experienced shoulders, the duo failed to cause much damage and Mandhana took the exit door in the third over at a paltry score of 11.

Wickets kept coming for the Australians and with Harmanpreet (4 off 7) gone before the powerplay, the defending champions smelled blood much before they had anticipated.

Deepti Sharma fought a lone battle at the other end and tried to provide some respite to India’s cause with her 28-run stand with Veda Krishnamurthy (19 off 24) and then with another partnership of 30 runs with Richa Ghosh (18 off 18) who came in as the concussion substitute of Bhatia.

However, Deepti’s 35-ball resilience which earned her 33 runs was only enough to make Australia wait for the glory but not defy them of it as she eventually fell short in the 17th over.

The hosts looked sharp on the field in comparison to India’s patchy efforts earlier. Inspired by the fielders’ commitments, the bowlers maintained tight length all throughout the match.

Experienced campaigner Megan Schutt was the star of the pack with her figures of 4/18. Jess Jonassen returned with 3/20, while all the other bowlers Sophie Molineux, Delissa Kimmince and Nicola Carey contributed with a scalp each.