Australia all-rounder Elyse Villani and opener Beth Mooney score half-centuries and helped Aussie women team score 186 runs for 5 wickets in their allotted 20 overs in the fourth T20I match of the Paytm Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket tri-series being played at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Monday.

After getting thrashed back to back — first by Australian women and then by the England squad — by six and seven wickets, respectively, in their two consecutive matches in the tournament, Indian cricket team led by Harmanpreet Kaur is aiming to bounce back.

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Earlier after winning the toss, Harmanpreet Kaur invited Meg Lanning’s squad to bat first on Monday. Propelled by Elyse Villani’s 61-run knock, which included 10 boundaries, the Aussie side managed to set a respected target of 187 runs in front of the Indian team to win.

Star all-rounder Pooja Vastraker did not let the Aussie team have a good start as she sent wicket-keeper batsman Alyssa Healy (9) back to the pavilion in the second over. After Healy’s dismissal, Ashleigh Gardner joined Mooney at the crease but was not able to do much as she was also sent back by Pooja.

However, Elyse Villani along with Beth Mooney (71) stabilised Aussie innings and put up a 114-run partnership for the third wicket.

Poonam Yadav broke Villani and Mooney’s partnership by removing Villani (61) from the crease.

Notably, India will be out of the tri-nation tournament if they lose Monday’s match.

From India, Pooja Vastrakar took two wickets. Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav and Jhulan Goswami took one wicket each.

Fall of wickets:

Australia:

12-1 (Alyssa Healy, 1.5), 29-2 (Ashleigh Gardner, 3.5), 143-3 (Elyse Villani, 15.3), 173-4 (Beth Mooney, 18.4), 175-5 (Ellyse Perry, 19.1)

Teams:

Australia Women (Playing XI): Alyssa Healy (wk), Beth Mooney, Ashleigh Gardner, Elyse Villani, Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes, Ellyse Perry, Delissa Kimmince, Jess Jonassen, Megan Schutt, Amanda Wellington

India Women (Playing XI): Smriti Mandhana, Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Radha Yadav, Jemimah Rodrigues, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Anuja Patil, Jhulan Goswami, Poonam Yadav