Aussie women beat India in T20I Tri-Series first match
Mumbai, March 22 (IANS) Australia dominated with both bat and ball to defeat India by six wickets in the first match of the women’s Twenty20 International (T20I) Tri-Series here on Thursday.
Asked to bat first, India made 152/5 in their 20 overs.
Opener Smriti Mandhana was the highest scorer for the hosts with 67 runs off 41 balls.
Her 72-run stand with Mithali Raj gave the innings a strong platform, but the other Indian batters were not equal to the task.
Anuja Patil scored 35 runs off 21 deliveries lower down the order to help add some late momentum to the Indian innings.
Ashleigh Gardener and Ellyse Perry were the most successful among the Australian bowlers with a couple of wickets each.
Delissa Kimmince also bagged a wicket when she dismissed Patil with the last ball of the 19th over.
In reply, the Australians romped home with 11 deliveries to spare.
They suffered an early scare when opener Alyssa Healy was bowled by veteran Indian pacer Jhulan Goswami in the very first over.
Goswami dealt yet another blow when she bowled Gardener in the third over to leave the visitors in a spot of bother at 29/2.
However, opener Beth Mooney and Elyse Vilani added 79 runs between them to bring the Australian innings back on track.
Mooney was the highest scorer for the visitors with 45 runs off 32 balls before being dismissed by Goswami in the 13th over.
Vilani, who scored 39 runs off 33 balls, followed Mooney back to the pavilion just six deliveries later when she was caught and bowled by Poonam Yadav.
However, the Australians were well in sight of victory by then and skipper Meg Lanning scored 35 runs off 25 balls to finish the job in style.
Goswami finished as the most successful among the Indian bowlers with figures of 3/30.
Brief scores:
India: 152/5 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 67, Anuja Patil 35; Ashleigh Gardener 2/22, Ellyse Perry 2/31) vs Australia: 156/4 in 18.1 overs (Beth Mooney 45, Elyse Vilani 39, Meg Lanning 35; Jhulan Goswami 3/30).