Australian women cricket team won the opening T20I match of the Paytm Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket tri-series by six wickets at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, on Thursday.
Riding on Smriti Mandhana’s sensational half-century, India scored 152 runs for 5 wickets in 20 overs.
Following the respected target, Australia’s start was not so good as they lost their opener Alyssa Healy just for just four runs.
Following Alyssa Healy’s departure, Ashleigh Gardner (15) along with Beth Mooney (45) took the charge of Australian innings.
Star India pacer Jhulan Goswami strike and broke their partnership by sending Ashleigh Gardner back to pavilion.
After Gardner’s departure, Elyse Villani (39) joined Beth Mooney at the crease.
Mooney and Villani put up 79 runs partnership for the third wickets and once again Jhulan Goswami bowled out Mooney and broke their partnership and soon Villani followed.
Meanwhile, Aussie skipper Meg Lanning (35) came to bat at the number at number five and guided Australia to victory.
Earlier after winning the toss, Australian skipper Meg Lanning opted to bowl first. Smriti Mandhana’s 67-run knock, which included 11 boundaries and two sixes helped India to set a respected target of 153 runs to win.
Elegant opener Mandhana gave India a brisk start but once again the viewers witness the failure of India’s medium order as the hosts lost three wickets in the span of two runs.
However, after the dismissal of Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana, explosive batter Anuja Patil along with Veda Krishnamurthy shattered the Aussie bowling line-up.
Patil scored 35 runs off 21 deliveries that included six boundaries and one maximum before getting bowled out by Delissa Kimmince.
Meanwhile, Indian ODI skipper Mithali Raj scored 18 runs off 27 balls and T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur 13 runs off 16 balls.
From Australia, Ashleigh Gardner and Ellyse Perry took two wickets each.
Fall of wickets:
India: 72-1 (Mithali Raj, 9.3), 99-2 (Smriti Mandhana, 13.3), 100-3 (Jemimah Rodrigues, 14.1), 100-4 (Harmanpreet Kaur, 14.3), 141-5 (Anuja Patil, 18.6)
Australia: 9-1 (Alyssa Healy, 0.5), 29-2 (Ashleigh Gardner, 2.4), 108-3 (Beth Mooney, 12.1), 112-4 (Elyse Villani, 13.1)
Teams:
Australia Women (Playing XI): Meg Lanning(c), Alyssa Healy(w), Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Elyse Villani, Rachael Haynes, Ashleigh Gardner, Sophie Molineux, Delissa Kimmince, Jess Jonassen, Megan Schutt
India Women (Playing XI): Smriti Mandhana, Mithali Raj, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Veda Krishnamurthy, Anuja Patil, Taniya Bhatia(w), Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Rumeli Dhar, Poonam Yadav