India Women defeated Australia Women by 17 runs in the third match of the T20I series, at Adelaide on Saturday, to clinch the series 2-1. While Smriti Mandhana shone with the bat, Shree Charani and Shreyanka Patil stood out with the ball for the Women in Blue.
Smriti Mandhana was awarded the Player of the Match for her match-defining innings of 82 runs off 55 balls. On the other hand, Shree Charani and Shreyanka Patil’s 3-fers helped restrict Australia to a score of 159.
Australian openers Georgia Voll and Beth Mooney gave a quick start to their side, smashing Renuka Singh for 18 runs in the first over. Despite a great start in the first over, Australia crumbled in the following overs. In the second over, Patil dismissed Voll for 10 off five balls. Wicketkeeper-batter Beth Mooney was caught out by Charani in the next over off Renuka at deep square leg. The Aussies lost their third wicket in the form of Ellyse Perry, who was playing her 350th international match for Australia, in the fourth over of Patil, reducing the hosts to 32/3 in 3.3 overs.
Australia ended the powerplay at 44/3.
Ashleigh Gardner was the only batter who stood out from the Australian side with 57 runs off 45 balls. However, she was dismissed on the last ball of the 16th over, bowled by Arundhati Reddy, as Australia slumped to 128/6 in 15.5 overs. Grace Harris, Sophie Molineux and Annabel Sutherland could not contribute much either as Australia ended their innings at 159/9, falling short by 17 runs.
Earlier, India won the toss and opted to bat first. Mandhana and Shafali opened the innings for the Women in Blue as the Aussie pacer Darcie Brown faced difficulty in finding her rhythm in the opening over, bowling four wides and was smashed for a boundary by Smriti Mandhana with a cover drive.
India were off to a decent start as they found themselves at 14/0 in two overs. However, they lost their first wicket in the form of Shafali with India 19/1 in 2.4 overs.
Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues made good use of the powerplay and took the team total to 54/1 after the first six overs. In the last over of the power play, Sophie Molineux went for 14 runs.
The duo kept the run rate up after the power play ended with India in a commanding position after 10 overs at a score of 86/1. Mandhana brought up her fifty in 38 balls with a six to Brown in the 12th over. In the 15th over, Jemimah was dropped by Phoebe Litchfield at extra cover, though she made a diving effort.
At the end of the 15th over, India were at 127-1. Mandhana’s innings came to an end after she had hit a six on the first ball of the 16th over by Annabel Sutherland. Mandhana scored 82 runs in 55 balls.
The opener looked exceptional throughout the innings, finding boundaries in almost every over. Despite a slow start, she ended her innings with a strike rate of 149.09, which included eight fours and three sixes.
Richa Ghosh continued the momentum after Mandhana’s dismissal. Jemimah reached her half-century in 41 balls. Ghosh played a quick cameo of 18 runs in seven balls before getting sent back to the pavillion in the 19th over, bowled by Molineux.
In the last over, bowled by Sutherland, India lost three wickets in the form of Jemimah (59), Amanjot Kaur (1) and Deepti Sharma (1) as the team ended the innings with a score of 176/6.
