IND A's batting failures see AUS A clinch the T20 series

It was another day, another day but the same old problems compounded India A as they went down to Australia A in the second of three-T20 series at the Bill Pippen Oval, Gold Coast on Saturday (December 21).

Batting failures have compounded problems for the tourists from the third one day game, where they lost six inside 100 runs. On Saturday, they were in pursuit of 146 and could only managed eight for 108. Yastika Bhatia (0) and Shafali Verma both failed at the top. The latter did get a life when on a duck but just added another run before perishing.

Molly Strano has been eyeing a comeback for Australia and she did no harm to her reputation when she soon got Priya Punia for ten. Only Veda Krishnamurthy, the captain of India A, showed a semblance of a fight. They could have believed they had a chance till she was in the middle but she departed when she hit a full toss from Sammy-Jo Johnson straight to Tahlia McGrath at mid-off for 38. The chase had effectively ended there.

Apart from Strano, who picked up two, Maitlan Brown and Johnson picked up a couple each to restrict India A.

Earlier in the day, riding on Tahlia McGrath’s 46, Australia A got to 145 losing seven wickets in the process. McGrath hit five fours and a six in her 40-ball knock, before falling to Dayalan Hemalatha. Bridget Patterson then took over, making 37 in just 27 balls. Johnson had a cameo then, making a 12-ball 24 towards the close. Her 27-run stand with Patterson, that came in just 12 balls acted as a catalyst in pushing Australia A’s score closer to 150.

Arundhati Reddy, Hemalatha and Anuja Patil picked up two wickets apiece, although Hemalatha and Patil went for too many runs. Mansi Joshi returned with one for 21 in her four overs, that were bowled on the trot in the first half of the innings.

However, Australia A’s score eventually proved to be 37 too many for India A.

Brief Scores: Australia A 145/7 in 20 overs (Tahlia McGrath 46, Bridget Patterson 37, Sammy-Jo Johnson 24; Arundhati Reddy 2/22, Dayalan Hemalatha 2/35, Anuja Patil 2/40) beat India A 108/8 in 20 overs (Veda Krishnamurthy 38; Molly Strano 2/6, Maitlan Brown 2/15, Sammy-Jo Johnson 2/24) by 37 runs. PoTM: Sammy-Jo Johnson.