IND-W vs AUS-W 3rd T20I Highlights: Healy-Mooney, brilliant bowling helps Australia seal series 2-1

Would have been nice if we had finished it a little earlier. (On Healy) when the guys at the other end bat like that, it makes my job very easy. We certainly have an eye on that T20 World Cup in Bangladesh, we are trying to get better and improve on certain areas. Our bowlers did a fantastic job on a pretty tough bowling surface. Understanding that the longer you bat, the easier it gets is important. 

Harmanpreet Kaur: They played white-ball cricket better than us. Red-ball cricket we know we can take our time but white-ball cricket we need to be on our toes. As a team we have learnt a lot. Fielding is something we were not upto the mark and after this break we will work on our fitness and fielding and come back stronger. 

Sutherland: It was nice to get a complete performance out there from the group and nice to finish off with a series win. We reviewed the first game and we didn’t play the way we would have liked and proud of the way the girls came back after that. 

India won the one-off Test against Australia and the first T20I but Australia dominantly sealed the other fixtures to win the ODI series 3-0 and the T20I series 2-1. 

Full from Pooja now. Mooney scoops it over short third for a four. Another four and Mooney squeezes it past point for a four. AUSTRALIA WINS BY 7 WICKETS!!!

Titas Sadhu starts with a couple of good deliveries. Just three runs from the first two. Wide yorker now. Squeezed away for a single by Mooney. Titas overpitches it next ball. Carved away for a four by Phoebe Litchfield. 

Shreyanka with a fuller one. Phoebe Litchfield lobs it straight over the umpire for a four. That should release the pressure for Australia. Couple of singles follow. Short from Shreyanka and put away for a four over extra cover for a four. 

Phoebe Litchfield keeps the hat-trick ball out. Scoops one over the keeper for a single. 

One more for Pooja. This time it is the big fish. Elysse Perry is trapped in front with an in-cutter. Australia reviews, with no success. 

Ellyse Perry lbw b Vastrakar 0 (1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0

McGrath tries to go after Pooja, but can’t clear mid off. Deepti Sharma takes a good catch there. 

Tahlia McGrath c Sharma b Vastrakar 20 (15b 4x4 0x6) SR: 133.33

Deepti’s last over. Australia cash in two fours from it. 

Renuka returns. Just two singles from the first three balls. Renuka pushes on with two back-to-back dot balls. Slightly short for the last ball. Pulls it away. But Harmanpreet Kaur makes a diving stop to prevent a four. 

Shreyanka returns. Mooney has been a bit quiet in this game, and understandably so as she watched Healy do the heavylifting. She gets going here with a four past mid on. 

Deepti continues. Full and McGrath thumps it over mid off for a four. Australia’s chase shows no signs of slowing down. 

Shreyanka Patil returns. Arm ball and it goes past Mooney’s sweep. Hits her on the front pad. Another review taken. Wickets missing, meaning India loses a review. Full toss from Shreyanka and McGrath puts it away for an easy four. 

Second over for Deepti. Healy and Mooney continue to keep things moving with easy singles. Healy struck on the pad after she attempts a reverse sweep. India takes a review and it gets lucky this time. 

Alyssa Healy lbw b Sharma 55 (38b 9x4 1x6) SR: 144.73

Vastrakar continues. Once again a half-tracker. Swung away flat-batted to the leg side fence by Healy. Couple of singles follow. Once again a short ball which is not short enough. Pulled away for another four and that is the fifty for Healy. 

Deepti gets an over. Full from her and Healy manages to find the gap. Four to the mid wicket fence. Australia is motoring on to India’s target. 

Loosener from Pooja Vastrakar to start with. Easily put away by Mooney. FOUR!! 

Length outside off the stump and Healy slashes at it. Jemimah takes a good low catch at point. Oh wait. The reviews show that there is no conclusive evidence to prove that catch carried. Healy survives. 

Shreyanka Patil to bowl the last over of the PowerPlay. Beats Mooney’s outside edge with a good one. Single brings Healy on strike. Full from Shreyanka and Healy pumps it over mid on for another four. 

Now Healy wades into Renuka. Full from Renuka and Healy crashes it over the mid wicket fence. SIX!! Now Renuka goes to the leg side and Healy punishes it off the back foot for a four. Full on the off side and driven away for a four. 

Mooney taps one to the off side to add a single off the first ball of the Titas over. Healy has had enough of it now. Dances down the the track to go over mid on. Four. Now she bangs one over covers. FOUR MORE!!! There is more from the over. Once again steps out of the crease to tonk it over the infield for another four. 

Renuka continue. Wide of the off stump. Easy single there for Mooney. Healy too gets one on the channel. Cut away for a couple of runs. Renuka brings the keeper up. But Mooney and Healy continue to chip away with easy singles. 

First over of the day for Titas Sadhu. Mooney slices one to the cover field and sneaks in a cover field. Down the leg side from Titas now. Loud appeals from the Indian players for a catch. Review shows it came off the pad. Review wasted. Just a single from the over. 

Healy and Mooney begin the chase for Australia. As expected, Renuka with the ball for India. Leg sideish to start with. Put away for a single. Mooney on strike. Renuka gets an edge out of her straight away. Flies past the first slip for a four. Mooney adds a double down the leg side field. 

India has never beaten Australia in a T20I series at home in the women’s game. Can today change that? 

India started confidently with a nice opening burst from Shafali Verma. Smriti Mandhana also looked in fine touch, with great placement to counter Australia’s bowling strategies. A flurry of wickets which saw the openers, Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur fall in quick succession derailed momentum. Richa Ghosh changed the face of this Indian innings as her 328-ball 34 allowed India to proceed at a healthy rate. Her massive sixes, 80m thulps, are an encouraging sign for India and another nudge towards using her more as a finisher in this format. Australia’s fielding was key in keeping India quiet in large patches of the game. However, India’s scoring pace has seen an improvement. 

What a way to start the final over. Richa Ghosh is bowled! A lovely yorker to stump Richa and she has to go after a valiant innings in trying circumstances. Vastrakar is the new batter in. Onus now on Amanjot as the relatively set batter to give India a push in this last over. Can the side get the total above 150? Amanjot finds the boundary at deep backward square and Pooja Vastrakar finishes the Indian innings with a six thulped straight down beyond the sight screen. 147 is India’s effort and Australia needs 148 to win and clinch the series. 

WICKET | Richa Ghosh b Gardner 34 (28b 2x4 3x6) SR: 121.42

Schutt will want to continue Annabel’s good work at the other end and she manages that. Wareham saves a couple of runs with a dive by the ropes at deep point. After just five runs given off the first five balls, Amanjot breaks free, sending the ball to the ropes, over the personnel at extra cover

What a way to stem the run flow. 24 runs were conceded off the previous two overs and Healy turns to Sutherland to bring the momentum down. She does that perfectly conceding just two singles. What a tournament she has had with the ball. 

Her remarkable figures for this game - 4-0-12-2

Wareham returns and the focus will be some dot ball pressure. Richa on strike whose sole aim now is to go big. And go big she will. Down on one knee, slogged over deep square leg. Picture perfect from Richa who has injected some energy in the crowd too. We see a proper cut on the ball that has been retrieved from the stands. If the leather could talk, it would scream after that hit! 80m hit this. My word. Australia has no answers for the big question mark called Richa Ghosh as she ends the Wareham over with a four. 11 off that over and Wareham has bowled out. 

Richa Ghosh knows the brief. They need to eye 150-160 and she chips away at that target. Schutt returns and Richa bludgeons this over the extra cover for SIX! Clean hitting this, loaded with power. She caps the over with a four, heaved on the leg side this time. 13 runs off this over. Well done, Richa. 

Oh. This promising Deepti-Richa alliance has been broken. Georgia Wareham the bowler who gets the job with Deepti holing out to Tahlia McGrath. She came down the ground hoping to find the boundary but found T-Mac instead. Amanjot Kaur comes to take her place alongside Richa Ghosh. Those last couple of balls were a struggle for her after some early intent. A conversation that will continue long after this series ends. 

WICKET | Deepti Sharma c McGrath b Wareham 14 (18b 2x4 0x6) SR: 77.77

32* (27) and still going, this stand between India’s last recognised batting partnership. India still has the batting power hitting of Pooja Vastrakar and the smarts of Shreyanka Patil to come. But this stand will fall and here’s how

Garth, Healy, McGrath will have a little huddle before the pacer comes on to bowl. The idea is now to slow down the pace of the game and the scoring a little to allow some pressure to settle in for India. Six runs are concedes, five of which go to extras. Garth bowls it wide to Richa who nudges it down to the fine leg boundary. 

Gardner comes in for her third over and it will be an expensive one. After two tight deliveries, Gardner bowls a wide, a fuller ball heading down leg. Deepti sweeps to fine leg and it runs away. Richa Ghosh backs that up with a massive strike over long on. 82m, massive strike! 14 runs come off the Gardner over, good one for India. 

Nice couple of balls from Sutherland as she comes in for her third. Keeping things tight along with the fielders to support her. Deepti breaks free with a ball angling onto her leg stump. She gets it to the fine boundary. 5 runs off the Sutherland over. 

Georgia Wareham will continue. This game will be crucial for Deepti coming in at number 6. She needs to find a way to work on her scoring rate and starts off positively with a boundary off her second ball faced. Tries to sweep. Ball flies to Healy right behind her but she can’t stop it. It runs away for four. She almost does it again off the next ball, but it will be stopped at fine leg by Megan Schutt. 

Sutherland returns. Can’t help but think about what a poor choice of shot that was from the Indian VC Smriti Mandhana. She was looking set for a big score. We barely have time to breathe as Sutherland strikes yet again. And this time it is the skipper Harmanpreet Kaur. Sutherland slows the pace in this fuller delivery outside the off stump. The India captain was looking to drive and is beaten. Inside edge onto the stumps. She is stunned for a few seconds, as are fans in the stands. Just the two runs from this over and the big wicket of Harmanpreet Kaur. This has been a series to forget with the bat for her. 

WICKET | Harmanpreet Kaur b Sutherland 3 (6b 0x4 0x6) SR: 50

THERE’S THE BIG FISH. Wareham takes out Smriti Mandhana. Two wickets fall for India in two overs. Gets the India opener on the last ball of her first over for the night. Wareham goes full and Smriti gets down to slog sweep. Gardner comes in from deep midwicket, dives and gets her batter. Who cares if she can’t bowl Smriti out right! She will be involved! Big wicket this for Australia. 

WICKET | Smriti Mandhana c Gardner b Wareham 29 (28b 2x4 1x6) SR: 103.57

Sutherland comes in for her first over of the night. She is switching between the good and full lengths to try and attack the pads or to draw an aerial attempt. Smriti nearly finds the boundary after Sutherland bowls short but there’s the wall called Ellyse Perry who runs all the way to deep backward square from fine leg and then dives to save her side a bunch of runs. Incredible. Sutherland’s switch to the short balls work as Jemimah holes out to Wareham. She didn’t have the power to give the ball distance and has to make the walk back to the pavilion. 

WICKET | Jemimah Rodrigues c Wareham b Sutherland 2 (7b 0x4 0x6) SR: 28.57

Jemimah takes a few moments to get settled in. There’s a chance for a run out as the pair runs a risky single. Jemimah’s role is specifically to keep the runs coming by rotating strike and finding the boundary with minimal risks and this one would have made their hearts flutter. Smriti has found her rhythm here and is timing the ball well in the gaps. She does so again, cutting Garth between third man and point to find the boundary. Six runs come off the over. 

What weakness, asks Smriti as she gets going with a six off the first ball. A massive strike over long off. It was a good ball, a full ball with a lot of movement and it looked almost as if she had holed out to Sutherland, but the shot has enough to beat the tall Aussie allrounder. Gardner is getting some good turn on this wicket and has Smriti beaten a few deliveries later. She responds with a boundary through cover. 12 runs off the over in total. India going at a good rate. 

Smriti now wants to join her partner and gets down on a knee almost to go down the ground over mid on. She gets elevation but no distance and that gives two runs. She is trying to innovate on the fly as she tries to almost recreate Shafali’s ramp shot from a few overs ago but this too doesn’t go the distance, a single as a result. Shafali does Smriti couldn’t as she sends the ball soaring straight to the boundary. One bounce for four. Schutt has the last laugh. SHe changes her pace and sends in a slightly slower one and Shafali gives the softest of knicks to Healy who makes no mistake behind the stumps. Benefits of being up and close to the stumps and Healy knows what she’s doing. A brief chat follows between Healy, Perry and Gardner. Jemimah is the new batter in. 

WICKET | Shafali Verma c †Healy b Schutt 26 (17b 6x4 0x6) SR: 152.94

Shafali Verma welcomes Kim Garth back with a boundary. This one has been smacked away over mid-off for four. to Oh good delivery from Kim Garth, who gets some extra bounce. Healy who has moved close to the stumps gets it, but it slips out of her hands, but there was no edge anyway. Just a good beaten batter to give Garth some confidence. Shafali sees that boundaries are the way to go and gets two consecutive ones, the first off a fuller ball that she sends over midwicket and the second a wristy strike through fine leg. 12 runs off this over for India

Beware Smriti Mandhana? The over gets off to a dicey start. Then comes a superb delivery from the Aussie allrounder. The ball comes into Smriti, leaving barely any space, Smriti gets an inside edge but Healy can’t do anything about it and its runs away to the boundary. Smriti tries to find the boundary once more as she hits it over cover but some good fielding saves the Aussies 2 runs. 

Kim Garth takes charge at the other end. Fielding will always set the Aussies apart and they are proving why. No space, no room for the ball to run away and for most part, the openers are finding the fielders in all their attempts to keep the scoreboard ticking. BUT SHAFALI WILL FIND A WAY and how very Phoebe-Litchfield-esque of her! Employs the ramp shot to send this short pitched ball goes away to the boundary behind the keeper. Nicely done. 

Megan Schutt begins for Australia. Shafali and Smriti will need to click today as a pair to help India get to a comeptitive total. Schutt’s line still yet to settle as she concedes a wide off the second ball and India gets off the mark. Schutt is trying to cramp Shafali for space so she tries to free her arms and gift an edge. Get to the boundary she will as she thumps a full length delivery to the ropes behind square leg. 

Harmanpreet: We were looking to bowl. We have to work on our batting, there are a few areas we need to improve on. 10-15 runs extra with the bat would have made a huge difference. We have an opportunity to beat them, we’ll give our best. Playing with the same team.

Alyssa Healy: We are going to bowl first. Want to get the best of the conditions with the new ball early. I have been googling dew. It’s been one hell of a ride. It’s about getting better. Want to get a couple of things right tonight. It has been an enjoyable month for us. Unchanged tonight.

India Women (Playing XI): Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Richa Ghosh(w), Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Amanjot Kaur, Shreyanka Patil, Titas Sadhu, Renuka Thakur Singh

Australia Women (Playing XI): Alyssa Healy(w/c), Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner, Phoebe Litchfield, Grace Harris, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham, Kim Garth, Megan Schutt

Healy wins the toss and elects to bowl first, again!

India and Australia were scheduled to play a multiformat series featuring a one-off Test, a 3-match ODI series and a 3-match T20I series. 

Results:

India beat Australia in the one-off Test by eight wickets, their first victory over the Aussies in the history of women’s Tests and in their 11th attempt. Know more here.

Australia brushed the loss aside with an emphatic 3-0 sweep of the ODI series. While India ran the visitors close in the first two games, the third game saw Australia win by a mammoth 190 runs to cement their supremacy. Here are the results:

1st ODI: Australia beat India by six wickets

2nd ODI: Australia beat India by three runs

3rd ODI: Australia beat India by 190 runs

In the T20I leg, India got off to a dominant start, beating Australia by 9 wickets in the first T20I. The visitors looked hapless against a rare four-pronged seam attack from the Indians with Titas Sadhu hogging the limelight with her incredible four-wicket haul. Australia clawed its way in the back in the second T20I, winning the toss and chosing to chase. After restricting India to just 131, the Aussies romped home with a six-wicket win to level the series in Ellyse Perry’s landmark 300th game. 

The India Women vs Australia Women 3rd T20I match will be played on Tuesday, January 9 at 7 pm IST. The India Women vs Australia Women 3rd T20I match will be telecast on the Sports18 Network in India. Live streaming of the match will be available on Jio Cinema in India.