Australia beat India by 6 wickets in the Tri-series opener

It was a decent crowd at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai that was on its feet with a solid start by Indian star opening batswomen Smriti Mandhana who played a vital knock earlier in the innings of T20 tri-series, but it was after Mithali Raj’s easy dismissal that saw the Indian middle-order failing yet again to contribute to India’s scoreboard.

After a solid opening partnership in the Tri-series opening match, Mithali Raj could not find her swift action going right from the start as she got stumped by Healy trying to advance early against the spin of Gardner. Mandhana, the sole positive in the otherwise dismal India batting line-up departed after her solid knock of 67 runs.

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur looked promising to take forward the game but she got dismissed with a misjudged pull short, making it 2 for Perry in the same over after the wicket of Rodrigues. India’s 3 wickets fell just for 1 run, and the scoreboard quickly changed from 99/1 to 100/4.

Anuja Patil proved that she is a reliable T20 specialist in the Indian camp when she hit 3 boundaries in a single over that helped her reach the 35 run-mark in no-time with whose knock India reached a decent. Krishnamurthy ended the innings with a six and a four off Schutt in the final over of the innings to help India cross 150.

Debutant Sophie Molineux picked two catches while Gardner and Perry picked up two wickets. India set a moderate target of 153 for the Aussies to chase.

The returning Jhulan Goswami struck gold in the first over as she helped the in-form Alyssa Healy pack her bags back to the pavilion after getting hit for two fours early in the over. Gardner also returned back to pavilion after her explosive batting in the 3^rdover off Goswami.

Mooney and Villani safely guarded the Aussies chances for a comfortable win as both the players’ striked 12 boundaries altogether. Mooney missed her fifty trying to attempt a late shot in the mid-on region, which brought the 3^rd wicket for pace-spearhead Jhulan Goswami.

Skipper Lanning came on to bat unusually at number 5 as she completely overpowered the bowlers and finished the match in style, scoring a quick-fire 35 with 4 boundaries and one six off her counterpart Kaur in the deep.

India didn’t have a great bowling attack, as the other pace options failed utterly to keep the batswoman under their attack. Team India will have to work more on the all-round efforts as there were glitches on the field too. India will next face England in the series on Sunday.

Scores:

Australia 156/4 (B Mooney 45, J Goswami 3/30) beat India 152/5 (S Mandhana 67, A Gardner 2/22) by 6 wickets.