Australia Women beat India Women by 19 runs, series levelled at Manuka Oval
Australia women's national cricket team levelled the multi-format series with a 19-run win over India women's national cricket team at Manuka Oval. A strong batting effort from Georgia Voll set up the victory, and the bowlers finished the job by keeping India under pressure.
India won the toss and sent Australia in to bat. The hosts put up 163/5 in 20 overs. The openers added 128 runs for the first wicket in 14.5 overs but the rest of the order failed to make good use of the start provided by Georgia Voll (88 off 57) and Beth Mooney (46 off 39). Tidy bowling from the Indian camp with Renuka Singh Thakur (1/27), Arundhati Reddy (2/30) and Kranti Gaud (0/24) restricting the scoring somewhat. But eventually it was a good enough total for Australia to defend.
Australia Women beat India Women by 19 runs to level multi-format series
The Indians were off to a very good start with Smriti Mandhana (31 off 24) and Shafali Verma (29 off 23) adding 54 runs in the powerplay and another 3 runs before Verma was sent back by skipper Sophie Molineux in the 7th over. Ashleigh Gardner sent Jemimah Rodrigues back cheaply for 4, Mandhana was next to depart nicking one to Beth Mooney down the leg side off Kim Garth's bowling. Harmanpreet Kaur (36 off 30) and Richa Ghosh (19 off 20) added 55 runs for the 4th wicket but the scoring rate was kept well in check by the Aussies.
India lost wickets at regular interval with Harmanpreet, Ghosh and Deepti Sharma being sent back to the shed in the space of 7 balls. Arundhati Reddy and Amanjot Kaur were dismissed in the penultimate over by Annabel Sutherland. 32 runs were needed in the final over, Shree Charani was dismissed by Molineux. Kranti Gaud entertained with some lusty blows smashing 12 in 5 balls with a four and a biggie but the total remained out of India's grasp.
Ashleigh Garnder (3/22) opening the bowling was the pick of the bowlers. Annabel Sutherland (2/18) and Kim Garth (2/16) picked up crucial wickets and stopped the flow of runs. Skipper Molineux was slightly expensive but picked up 2 wickets for 37. The next T20I will be played on Saturday in Adelaide. India and Australia both have 2 points each in the multi-format series.
