Despite opener Smriti Mandhana’s scintillating half-century, the Indian women’s team went down by 14 runs in the third and final T20 International as Australia won the multi-format series by a margin of 11-5.
Australia won four of the six white-ball matches (three Women’s ODIs and three WT20Is), paving the way for an easy series win with the Indians playing well in only patches.
Chasing a daunting target of 150, Mandhana smashed 52 off 49 balls and shared a 57-run stand with Jemima Rodrigues (23 off 26) for the second wicket, before setting the stage for India. The visiting team lost four wickets within 10 runs. plots.
Smriti Mandhana reaches another milestone #ausvind pic.twitter.com/K3acO48pfg
—cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) 10 October 2021
For Australia, right-arm pacer Nicola Carey (2/42) was the bowlers’ choice, while Ashley Gardner (1/22), Annabel Sutherland (1/13) and Georgia Wareham (1/15) took a wicket each. took. took.
Thus India’s tour of Australia was heartbroken, having already lost the three-match ODI series 1-2 before drawing the only historic day/night Test affected by rain.
India’s run chase began on a disappointing note as they lost hard-hitting opener Shafali Verma (1) at the start of the second over, which was caught at short fine leg by Vlaeminck off Gardner.
But Mandhana looked in ominous touch as she displayed a wide range of her shots to pick up three boundaries in the fifth over – pulling off the pads, locking the pads and hitting them from the cover area.
Six! Stating the obvious here, but Tahlia McGrath is such a gun. #ausvind pic.twitter.com/LkrQIV8KfE
— Australian women’s cricket team (@AusWomenCricket) 10 October 2021
Mandhana and Rodrigues played with caution as India reached 54 in the 10th over, with a boundary in the middle.
Rodrigues then hit Wareham straight to mid-on in the next over, but she went in search of too many boundaries after two balls, which Vlaeminck caught at long-off.
Mandhana soon reached a half-century with a half-century off just 46 balls off Carey, but she died four balls later, being caught by Australia captain Meg Lanning as India were 93 for three by the end of the 15th over. The run had been scored. reached the run.
Needing 57 off 30 balls, India’s chase was derailed as they lost two more quick wickets including skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (13).
It was another failure on Kaur’s side as she headed straight for Lanning from Sutherland while trying to clear the inner circle.
Carey clean bowled Pooja Vastrakar (5) in the next over and India were reduced to 99 for four in the 17th over.
From there, Australia did not look back as they restricted India to 135 for six.
Richa Ghosh remained unbeaten on 23 off 11 balls while Deepti Sharma remained unbeaten on 9.
Earlier, opener Beth Mooney scored a half-century while Tahlia McGrath scored an unbeaten 44 to help Australia post a good total of 149 for five.
Electing to field first after winning the toss, the Indian bowlers picked up wickets at regular intervals but the hosts found the momentum after scoring 40 runs in the last 19 balls.
Left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gaikwad (2/37), Renuka Singh (1/23), Pooja Vastrakar (1/24) and off-spinner Deepti Sharma (1/24) were the wicket-takers for India as the Australian batsmen struggled. Were were . did. Score freely in the middle overs.
For Australia, Mooney played the highest innings of 61 runs in 43 balls, which included 10 fours.
In the end, McGrath scored an unbeaten 44 off 31 balls and combined with Georgia Wareham (13 not out) to add 32 valuable runs for the sixth wicket to take Australia close to 150.
McGrath hit six fours and a six.
India made a change by bringing in Harleen Deol in place of Yastika Bhatia. Australia also changed with the arrival of Annabel Sutherland for Hannah Darlington.
India lost the second T20 International by four wickets, while the opening match was washed out.
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