Australian women cricket team won the second ODI of three-match series against India by 60 runs at Reliance Stadium, Vadodara, on Thursday.
Riding on Nicole Bolton (84), Ellyse Perry (70) and Beth Mooney’s (56) half-century Australia score 287 runs for 9 wickets.
Following the daunting target of 288 runs, India’s start was good as elegant opener Smriti Mandhan scored eighth half-century of her career. In her 67 runs knock Mandhana hit 12 boundaries and one six.
After Mandhana’s departure Deepti Sharma joined Punam Raut at the crease but soon Raut was sent back to pavilion followed by skipper Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy, Deepti Sharma and then Sushma Verma.
Indian women team lost seven wickets just for 98 runs. It was 99 for one and then 197 for 8.
After the failure of India’s opening batting order, bowler Pooja Vastraker tried to take Indian innings forward and scored 30 runs while batting at number nine.
Earlier after winning the toss, Indian skipper Mithali Raj opted to bowl first. The hosts somehow managed to succeed in their plan, as they managed to take opener Alyssa Healy’s wicket (19 runs off 37 balls) early.
After Alyssa’s dismissal, Aussie skipper Lanning took the charge of Australian innings along with Bolton. But even Lanning was not able to add much to the Aussie scoreboard as the captain gifted her wicket to Shikha Pandey for 24 runs, and soon Nicole Bolton and Rachael Haynes followed.
After three back to back wickets, Ellyse Perry stabilised the Aussie innings with Beth Mooney and added 96 runs for the sixth wicket.
However, Shikha Pandey broke their partnership by sending Mooney back to the pavilion. After Mooney’s departure, Ashleigh Gardner joined Perry at the crease.
Ashleigh Gardner was sent back to the pavilion by Poonam Yadav at the score of 6 runs.
Fall of wickets:
Australia:
54-1 (Alyssa Healy, 12.5), 130-2 (Meg Lanning, 26.3), 143-3 (Nicole Bolton, 29.4), 144-4 (Rachael Haynes, 30.3), 240-5 (Beth Mooney, 44.3), 248-6 (Ashleigh Gardner, 46.1), 273-7 (Nicola Carey, 48.5), 285-8 (Jess Jonassen, 49.4)
India:
88-1 (Smriti Mandhana, 17.5), 99-2 (Punam Raut, 20.3), 123-3 (Mithali Raj, 24.4), 155-4 (Harmanpreet Kaur, 31.6), 159-5 (Veda Krishnamurthy, 33.2), 168-6 (Deepti Sharma, 35.3), 170-7 (Sushma Verma, 35.6), 197-8 (Shikha Pandey, 41.3), 223-9 (Pooja Vastrakar, 47.2)