IND-W vs AUS-W HIGHLIGHTS 2nd T20I: India Women beat Australia Women in Super Over, level series 1-1

Trust the Indian Women to break Australia’s winning streaks. Today, they ended Australia’s unbeaten run in international cricket in 2022. This is Australia’s first defeat across formats this year after 1 drawn Test, nine T20I victories and 12 ODI wins. That’s a whopping total of 22 matches. This ends Australia’s 11-match winning streak in T20Is, with its last defeat in the format coming in March 2021 against New Zealand. Last year in September, it was yet again India which had ended Australia’s 26-match ODI winning streak.

India Women pipped the mighty Aussies in their first-ever Super Over appearance! Richa Ghosh started off in style by hitting a first-ball six but was dismissed next ball by Heather Graham. Smriti Mandhana then blasted 13 runs off three balls, including a six and a four, to ensure India ended with 20 runs in the Super Over. With Australia needing 21 runs, captain Healy gave India a scare by striking Renuka Singh’s first ball for a four. Gardner was dismissed off her first ball, leaving Australia 16 to win off three balls. Healy smashed a four and a six off the last two balls of the Super Over but it wasn’t enough as Australia managed only 16.

Renuka to bowl the Super Over. Healy and Gardner come out to chase 21 from six balls. FOUR! Wide outside off and Healy slashes this over mid-off for a four first ball. Australia needs 17 runs to win from five balls. Thumped next ball straight to mid-off and just a single. Sixteen to win from four balls. OUT! Gardner holes out at long-off. Full and wide outside off and Gardner hammers it down the ground but Radha holds on to the catch in the deep. Australia needs 16 to win from three balls. McGrath steps out and hits it straight to mid-off and dot ball. India just needs to bowl two legal deliveries now. FOUR! Healy leans back and cuts it behind point for a four. SIX! Full toss, hip-high, and Healy sends it over the ropes behind square leg but it doesn’t matter. India pips Australia in the Super Over and ends Australia’s unbeaten streak in 2022!

SIX! First ball six for Richa as she sweeps this slot ball from Graham for a six over long-on. OUT! Richa goes next ball, caught and bowled by Graham as she looks to pull this short one. Kaur comes in and carves a slower one to point and runs a single. Mandhana on strike. FOUR! Mandhana makes room outside off and hits it over point to make it 11 from four balls. SIX! Mandhana goes inside out and lofts this over deep cover for six more. Mandhana pulls this away on leg-side and scampers for three runs.

Schutt to bowl the last over. Driven by Richa to cover fielder and the batters scamper for a single. 13 runs to win off 5 balls. FOUR! Vaidya steps out, gets a thick edge past the keeper and four lucky but important runs for India. Drilled down to mid-off for a single. Eight runs to win off three balls. Full toss and Richa jabs this to deep midwicket for a couple. Single down the ground. India needs five runs to win off the last ball. FOUR! Vaidya finds the boundary behind point and we have a tie.

Graham with the ball. This was going down leg-side but Deepti got a bit of bat as she looked to work it away. OUT! Deepti sweeps behind square and taken by Alana at deep fine-leg. Australia hits back. Vaidya comes and and lifts it just over covers for a single. Richa thumps it down the ground for one more. Two singles to end the over. Richa keeps strike with a single off the last ball.

SIX! Richa slog sweeps the first ball of the Gardner over and clears midwicket for a maximum. SIX! Full and Richa clubs this over long-off this time for another six. Deepti swivels and whips on the leg-side for a single and keeps strike.

Sutherland into the attack. SIX! Mandhana gets another maximum. OUT! Gone next ball and Mandhana is clean bowled. She moved across the stumps and looked to go over fine-leg but ended up chopping onto her stumps. SIX! Richa is off the mark in style with a maximum and India is still in this!

Graham with the ball. SIX! Mandhana unfurls her slog sweep and clears deep square-leg for another maximum. A couple more next ball. Mandhana launches this again on leg-side but goes to deep midwicket on the bounce and just a single. Harmanpreet delicately jabs this straight to short third and it’s a dot. OUT! Huge wicket and it’s a soft dismissal! Low full toss and Harmanpreet hands it straight to Mooney at deep midwicket. Richa Ghosh comes in and digs out a menacing yorker first ball.

Garth bowls out. FOUR! Harmanpreet keeps her front leg out of the way and muscles this full delivery between midwicket and wide long-on. Garth changes her pace as Mandhana backs away outside leg and steers it straight to cover.

Schutt with the ball. There is lbw shout against Mandhana but not given as this probably pitched outside leg-stump. Four runs off the first three balls. Good-looking pull shot from Harmanpreet but just a single at deep midwicket. SIX! Mandhana keeping the asking rate in check. Now she clears her front leg and dispatches this over deep square for six more. FOUR! Outside edge and that runs away behind the keeper for four runs.

Alana comes back. Full toss and Harmanpreet misses out on a chance to punish that as she steps out and drives it straight to cover. Harmanpreet goes for the sweep now and fails to connect. Alana keeping the batters on a leash by mixing up her pace. SIX! Full toss on leg-stump and Mandhana cashes in by stepping out and clearing the mid-wicket boundary. FOUR! Swept hard by Mandhana and this just drops inside the rope and goes for four. Mandhana brings up her 50 off 37 balls.

Karth continues. Wide down leg-side first ball. Harmanpreet goes for the scoop and misses. Slower one and Kaur works it away for a single towards square-leg. Mandhana drives through covers for a single. FOUR! Mandhana makes room outside off and lofts this over mid-off and finds the boundary.

Gardner bowls her third. FOUR! Kaur is off the mark with a boundary. SIX! Imperious slog sweep from the captain and she sends the ball sailing over the deep midwicket fielder for a maximum.

Graham returns. She traps Jemimah in front and India loses another one. Straight, Jemimah looks to work it on leg-side off her pads and misse. Umpire doesn’t take long to lift the finger. Harmanpreet comes in and starts by defending the first two balls.

Alana King comes into the attack. Mandhana drives this for a single at long-off. Wide down leg side next ball. OUT! Alana strikes in her first over and Australia gets the much-needed breakthrough! Shafali departs. FOUR! Jemimah gets four off the first ball she faces. Turning towards leg-stump and Jemimah goes back and pulls behind square-leg for a boundary.

SIX! Shafali pulls this over midwicket for a maximum as Schutt bangs it in short. Nine runs from the over and India is well and truly on course in this chase.

Gardner comes back. A couple of runs off the first ball as Shafali drills it down the ground. Mandhana and Shafali pick up ones down the ground. FOUR! Mandhana pummels this wide of mid-on and gets another boundary.

Debutant Graham with the ball. Full and clipped off her pads by Mandhana for a single at deep square-leg. Fullish again and swatted away by Shafali for a single through mid-wicket. Mandhana picks up this full ball off her pads and hammers it to deep mid-wicket, where Gardner dives in front to keep it to a single. FOUR! Mandhana stays on the backfoot and punches this through covers for a boundary.

Perry into the attack. A bit wayward as this goes past the keeper for five wides. FOUR! Good length on off and Shafali slices this behind point for four runs. FOUR! This is pulled away over mid-on and Shafali gets another boundary. Dropped! Shafali gets a reprieve as Schutt puts down a sitter at deep point. Mandhana keeps strike with a single.

Garth continues. Mandhana pulls one fiercely to deep square after two dots but gets just a single. Wide down leg-side as Shafali moves slightly outside leg-stump. Slower one on middle by Garth and Shafali defends. Good length ball and punched by Shafali straight to mid-off. FOUR! Not short enough to be pulled but Shafali still goes for the shot and just beats the fielder at wide long-on.

Schutt replaces Gardner. Shafali struggling to time the ball here. She lofts a slower one high in the air and the fielder, running towards the boundary, just fails to reach the ball on time. Lucky escape and they pick up two runs. FOUR! Shafali gets her timing right this time and sends the ball over the bowler’s head and to the boundary.

Garth to bowl the second. Shafali off the blocks with a single. FOUR! Pulled away by Mandhana to the deep square-leg fence. FOUR! Consecutive fours for Mandhana as she swats this length ball over mid-on and to the boundary. FOUR! Mandhana turning the heat on the Aussie bowlers. Makes room on the off-side and sends the ball crashing through cover and point.

Mandha and Shafali open the innings. Gardner to bowl. FOUR! Mandhana is off the mark with a four as she sweeps to the midwicket boundary. Four runs from the first over.

Renuka to bowl the final over. Good yorker length ball just inside the tramline on the off and Mooney cannot dig it out. Dot ball to start with. Mooney shuffles across very early, exposing her middle and leg stumps even before the ball was delivered. She pulls it to deep mid-wicket for a single. McGrath stands almost on the tramline outside off but is met with another good yorker and just a single. Mooney looks to scoop this behind but can only get one as it goes off an inside edge. FIVE-WIDES! Renuka follows McGrath, who is standing well outside off, and this is too far wide and goes past the keeper for five extras. McGrath misses the reverse-sweep off the penultimate ball. Single to end the innings.

Deepti bowls out. Mooney steps out and places this slower one outside off to deep cover for a single. Darted at the feet, cramps McGrath, who only drills it for a single at long-on. Three consecutive fours for Mooney from the over. She shuffles across and swats one to the square-leg fence, then hammers a full-toss down the ground before sweeping to the mid-wicket boundary. She keeps strike with a single for the final over.

FOUR! Devika comes back and Mooney starts off by going inside out over covers for a four first-ball. A third umpire referral for a run out at the non-striker’s end but Mooney has made her ground with ease.

Sarvani with the ball. McGrath gets an inside edge as she steps out to muscle this on the off. FOUR! McGrath continues to move in front of her stumps and pierces the gap between square-leg and mid-wicket for another four. FOUR! McGrath lofts this over mid-off for four more and both batters toying with the Indian attack now.

Radha Yadav comes back. FOUR! Mooney shuffles across and hammers this on leg-side and brings up her fifty off 38 balls. FOUR! Another one next ball and Mooney this time finds the fine-leg fence.

FOUR! McGrath sweeps again and finds the backward square-leg boundary. SIX! She steps out next ball and drills this over wide long-off for a maximum. That’s her fifty off 37 balls.

Renuka is back. Four singles and just when it looks like a tight over, Mooney goes across the lofts to the fine-leg boundary. FOUR! Another boundary to end the over. Mooney pounches on this full ball and drives through covers.

FOUR! Mooney looking to shift gears. She steps out and lofts over point for a boundary. FOUR! Mooney sweeps this from outside off and to the mid-wicket fence. FOUR! Horrible misfiled by Jemimah and four more. Big over - 15 runs from it.

Deepti is back with the ball. Just four runs from it but what will disappoint Deepti was another dropped chance off the last ball of the over. Mooney thumped it back to the bowler but Deepti couldn’t hold on.

FOUR! Devika Vaidya into the attack and she is greeted by McGrath with a four first ball off a reverse-sweep. Vaidya does well to keep it down to five singles after the first ball four. McGrath goes for a big hit last ball but only manages an inside-edge onto her pads after stepping out.

Sarvani returns. Fullish and driven to sweeper cover by McGrath for one. FOUR! Good improvisation from McGrath, who shuffles across the stumps and whips it away by square-leg for a boundary. FOUR! Mooney goes for the scoop this time after going across the stumps, gets an inside edge and past the keeper for four more.

Radha continues. FOUR! Mooney gets low and sweeps this to the square-leg boundary for four more.

Meghna Singh into the attack. FOUR! In the slot first ball outside off and McGrath drives it past mid-off for a four. FOUR! Good bouncer, but Mooney gets a top-edge on the pull and it goes over the keeper for a boundary. FOUR! Width and McGrath stays back and cuts it through point and cover for another four.

Radha Yadav to bowl. Tight over. Just three runs from it.

Deepti could have got another wicket here but Radha Yadav puts it down and worse still, the ball goes for a boundary. Aerial cut by McGrath and Radha mistimed her jump at point. Two dropped catches already for India in this match.

Sarvani bowls her second. Dropped! McGrath goes for the slash, gets a bottom edge and Richa puts it down behind the stumps. FOUR! Back of a length, angling across outside off and Tahlia stays back and punches it through cover and point for a boundary.

Deepti Sharma into the attack! A couple of singles off the first two balls. OUT! Deepti strikes and India has its first wicket. Healy has to go! Wide outside off, Healy goes for the cut and slices it a bit in the air and taken at backward point. Tahlia McGrath is in next. FOUR! Smashed down the ground for a four to end the over and McGrath is up and away.

FOUR! Renuka continues. Width outside off stump and Healy sends it crashing through the off side for a first-ball four. FOUR! Elegantly driven down the ground this for back-to-back boundaries. A bit of luck here for Healy as she gets another inside edge and the ball bounces in front of the stumps before going over them. Renuka comes round the stumps to Mooney. A couple to end the over.

Anjali Sarvani from the other end. She comes over the wicket to Healy, who almost chops on first ball driving wide outside off. Two fours for Healy from the over. Shafali has hurt herself while driving to save the first boundary diving at wide long-on.

Healy and Mooney open for Australia. Renuka Singh with the new ball. Fullish just outside off first ball and Healy drives for a single past mid-off. Mooney leaves her first ball outside off. Not much swing on offer yet. Mooney is off the mark with a single next ball as she carves the ball between cover and point. FOUR! Shortish and Healy pulls this with disdain and beats the diving mid-wicket fielder. Clipped off the pads for a single after the boundary.

Beth Mooney, Alyssa Healy (c) (wk), Tahlia McGrath, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Annabel Sutherland, Ashleigh Gardner, Alana King, Ellyse Perry, Phoebe Litchfield, Megan Schutt.

Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya, Radha Yadav, Anjali Sarvani, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh.

India wins the toss and elects to bowl. India Women are unchanged. For Australia, Heather Graham and Phoebe Litchfield make their debuts. They replace Grace Harris and Jess Jonassen.

The toss is coming up shortly at 6:30 PM IST. Stay tuned for the updates!

Matches Played: 26

Australia Won: 19

India Women Won: 6

No Result: 1

Beth Mooney, Alyssa Healy (c) (wk), Tahlia McGrath, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Annabel Sutherland, Ashleigh Gardner, Alana King, Ellyse Perry, Heather Graham, Darcie Brown/Megan Schutt.

Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya, Harleen Deol/Radha Yadav, Anjali Sarvani, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh.

Jess Jonassen will miss the remainder of the series after injuring her right hamstring in Friday’s opening match. The left-arm spinner has returned home to Queensland, and will be replaced by leg-spinner Amanda-Jade Wellington.

Deepti Sharma knew that she had to accelerate the strike rate when she walked out to bat in the first T20I against Australia Women at the DY Patil Stadium on Friday.

The Indian women’s team was in a tricky situation with just 132 runs on the board and five wickets gone. Coming in after Richa Ghosh, who forged a strong 57-run partnership with Devika Vaidya to pull the team back from the woods, Deepti had a clear cut vision - to maximise the runs off minimum balls available.

And she did everything possible to execute the plans. Starting off with a pull and slash off Annabel Sutherland for a couple of boundaries, she kept the momentum going in Ashleigh Gardner’s next over, hammering her for two fours.

However, her best was yet to come. In the final over, bowled by Megan Schutt, Deepti looked calm and composed as she hammered four successive fours, finishing unbeaten on 36 off just 15 balls.

With the 27,500-plus home fans cheering, Deepti’s heroics guided India to a mammoth 172 for five. However, in the end, that was inadequate as Beth Mooney stood firm to guide Australia to a nine-wicket win.

The Indian team hopes to get inspired by Deepti’s heroics and bounce back when it meets Australia for the second T20I at the same venue on Sunday.

In the opening T20I, India’s fielding was shoddy and going forward, the team plans to ensure that it addresses the issue. “Definitely, the first half was pretty good but the second half didn’t go as well. We will try to rectify our small mistakes made in bowling and fielding in the next match so that we can give a tough competition in the series,” Deepti said in the post-match media interaction.

On Friday, India handed a debut to Anjali Sarvani, who became the first left-arm seamer to feature in a women’s T20I for India, in a bid to bolster its pace attack but that move did not yield results as the youngster went wicketless and conceded 27 runs in four overs.

With Mooney and McGrath taking things in their stride, none of the Indian bowlers made an impact. But Deepti pinned her hopes on Sarvani.

“I have played against her in domestic cricket. I played the (Senior Women’s T20 Trophy) final for Bengal against Railways. She (bowls) a good in-swinger with pace. Very few bowlers beat right-handers with in-swingers. It was her debut but it didn’t seem like that. She was very confident to bowl in any situation and everyone backed her,” she said.

As far as India is concerned, this series is its last opportunity to pick the right combination for the tri-series and the T20 World Cup in South Africa. Given the fact that both Shafali Verma and Richa won’t be available for the entire series, it is indeed a challenge for the team management to zero in on their back-ups. Despite Shafali starting off aggressively, India struggled in the PowerPlay in the opening game and until the 10th over, the run rate nosedived, with hardly any big shots coming India’s way.

For India’s new batting coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar, who’s in a way doubling up as the head coach, it will be a tricky challenge to sort out this issue. Middle-order has always been an area of concern for the team and even though Deepti has been quite consistent at the fag end over the last few months, it is important to not be over-reliant on Deepti.

The all-rounder worked quite a bit on her batting recently and comes with the mindset of ‘maximising the runs off the minimum balls available’, but it is time that others, too, start being consistent.

As far as Australia is concerned, it will once again pin its hopes on captain Alyssa Healy and Mooney to take charge of the batting department. However, it will be a challenge for the Aussie quicks to regroup and ensure that they don’t concede as many runs at deaths as they did in the opening game. The side has enough depth in its batting and with Tahlia McGrath, too, in-form, things certainly look bright for the top-ranked team.

Dew did play a role in the second innings of the first game, and taking lessons, both teams will be hoping to take things in their stride and adapt to the conditions. With points to prove, both teams have lots to play for.

India Women: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Renuka Singh Thakur, Meghna Singh, Anjali Sarvani, Devika Vaidya, S Meghana, Richa Ghosh (wk), Harleen Deol.

Australia Women: Alyssa Healy (c), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Grace Harris, Amanda-Jade Wellington, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland.