Australia beat India in second match to level women’s T20 series
Deepti Sharma was the Indian women’s cricket team’s standout player, scoring 30 runs and picking up two wickets. The final T20 match will be played on Tuesday.
Cricket
The Indian women’s cricket team lost to Australia by six wickets in the second tie of the three-match T20 series at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Sunday.
Put in to bat first, India struggled before a late rescue act by Deepti Sharma, whose 30 off 27 balls helped India post a total of 130/8 in their allotted 20 overs.
Despite getting off to a good start, the Aussies wobbled a bit in the middle overs but Alyssa Perry and Phoebe Litchfield got the visitors across the finish line with six wickets and one over to spare.
The result also means Australia, led by Alyssa Healy, level the series 1-1, making the final India vs Australia T20 at the same venue on Tuesday the deciding game. India won the opening match by nine wickets.
It was Healy who called it right at the coin toss and elected to have a bowl first.
Kim Garth, who replaced Darcie Brown in the Australian starting XI on the night, gave her team the start they wanted. The pacer trapped opener Shafali Verma LBW in the second over before forcing Jemimah Rodrigues to nick one to Healy in the fourth.
Indian T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur and opener Smriti Mandhana, who scored a half-century on Friday, tried to steady the ship and put on a 22-run stand for the third wicket before Mandhana was caught at deep midwicket while trying to go after Annabel Sutherland.
The Indian women’s cricket team was left scrambling at 54/3 after Harmanpreet fell to Ashleigh Gardner in the 11th over.
A handy partnership between Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh, however, saved India the blushes as the Indian innings wrapped up for 130/8 in 20 overs. Deepti Sharma, who completed the 1000-run milestone in women’s T20 cricket on the night, was the top scorer with 30.
Healy and Beth Mooney got the Australian chase off to a good start and comfortably dealt with Renuka Singh and Titas Sadhu, who won the Player of the Match award in Sunday’s match, to put up 51 on the board in seven overs.
Deepti Sharma, the standout batter for India on the day, struck with the ball as well. The spinner dealt the Aussies a double blow, removing both Healy and Mooney in successive overs.
With two new batters - Tahlia McGrath and Perry - on the crease, Australia tried to rebuild but India managed to get some tight overs in to take the asking rate up.
Shreyanka Patil and Pooja Vastrakar then sent back McGrath and Ashleigh Gardner, respectively to reduce Australia to 99/4 at the end of the 16th over.
India’s hopes of a fightback, however, was snuffed out with Alyssa Perry and Phoebe Litchfield getting the visitors home with an over to spare. Elyssa Perry, who became only the fourth woman in cricket to play 300 international matches in all formats combined, closed out the match with a maximum.
India Women vs Australia Women 2nd T20 brief scores: India-W 130/8 in 20 overs (Deepti Sharma 30, Smriti Mandhana 23, Richa Ghosh 23; Georgia Wareham 2/17) lost to Australia-W 133/4 in 19 overs (Elyssa Perry 34, Alyssa Healy 26; Deepti Sharma 2-22) by six wickets.