Australia’s unbeaten run against India in bilateral One Day Internationals (ODIs) continued as the side’s three-run win here on Saturday gave it an unassailable lead in the three-match series.
It was a day of misses at the Wankhede Stadium, with India and Australia missing a total of 11 catches (ratio of 7:4). Richa Ghosh missed a well-deserved maiden ODI ton and India missed a chance to level the series.
India’s fielding coach Munish Bali, after the first ODI which Australia won by six wickets, said that the team should press ‘control+alt+delete’ on that game and begin afresh in the next fixture. However, his team did not let him reset the fielding errors of the first game, with seven regulation chances squandered.
AS IT HAPPENED: India vs Australia, Highlights 2nd ODI
Alyssa Healy won the toss and chose to bat on a turner. The openers got off to a cautious start assisted by three lifelines for Phoebe Litchfield, courtesy of the lax effort on the field.
With Healy falling cheaply again, Ellyse Perry and Litchfield put on a 77-run stand for the second wicket, with the former breaking through the Indian defence with a few boundaries. Perry fell right after yet another fifty, with Shreyanka Patil taking a shaky catch at short midwicket off Deepti Sharma’s bowling.
After Deepti sent Beth Mooney back to the hut, Shreyanka claimed Litchfield as her first ODI wicket. The Indian bowler then dismissed Tahlia McGrath, breaking the Aussie vice-captain’s streak of half centuries in this tour of India.
Smriti Mandhana dropped Annabel Sutherland on 17 at mid-wicket in the 44th over, but Deepti ensured she didn’t do too much damage, dismissing her for 23. Georgia Wareham also got a start but fell to Deepti to complete her five-wicket haul.
Alana King put up a resistance, helping Australia get to 258, which included three gusty sixes, taking full advantage of being dropped twice.
With Shafali Verma benched for the game, Yastika Bhatia and Mandhana opened India’s response. Yastika’s dismissal in the seventh over prompted a promotion up the order for Richa. Though the wicketkeeper-batter began cautiously, she eventually became the pivot of the Indian chase
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King removed Mandhana off her very first delivery to the left-hander, with McGrath taking the catch at long-on.
After Harmanpreet Kaur fell cheaply yet again, Richa stitched partnerships with Jemimah Rodrigues (88) and Deepti (47 runs). Despite her hamstrings tightening, Richa powered through looking set for her first century in the format but fell agonisingly short by four runs when she holed out to Litchfield off Sutherland at cover.
Deepti consumed deliveries but struggled to keep the runs coming. And Pooja Vastrakar and Shreyanka came in too late with their big-hitting abilities to help the Indian cause.
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