Healy and Mooney Fifties Lead Australia Women to 2-1 Series Win Over India

By siliconindia  |  Wednesday, 10 January 2024, 06:09:01 PM IST

Healy and Mooney Fifties Lead Australia Women to 2-1 Series Win Over India
Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney, the opening pair for Australia Women, showcased brilliant performances with the bat, each scoring impressive half-centuries. Their clinical bowling display paved the way for Australia's seven-wicket victory over India Women in the third and final T20I, securing a 2-1 series win at the DY Patil Stadium. Captain Healy reached her fifty in just 34 balls, contributing 55 runs off 38 balls, while Mooney remained unbeaten with a score of 52 off 45 balls. Australia successfully chased down India's total of 147/6, finishing at 149/3 in 18.4 overs, having opted to bowl first.
Healy and Mooney formed a formidable opening partnership, accumulating 85 runs without losing a wicket and reaching a score of 54 during the Powerplay. Healy showcased her aggressive batting, hitting three boundaries off Titas Sadhu in the fourth over. In the following over, she smashed a six over wide long-on off a fullish delivery outside the off-stump from Renuka Singh, adding two more boundaries in the next four balls. This impressive display of batting by the Australians contributed to their strong start in the match.
In all, Healy, who survived a scare when a sharp catch off a dipping ball picked up by Jemimah Rodrigues was ruled in her favour by the TV umpire after watching many replays, struck nine boundaries and the lone six of the Australian innings. She was judged out through DRS, trapped leg before wicket by Deepti Sharma attempting a reverse sweep off a full delivery outside off-stump. While Ultra Edge ruled that the bat was not involved, HawkEye suggested it would have gone on to hit the middle and leg stump.
Pooja Vastrakar claimed two wickets Tahlia McGrath (20) and Ellyse Perry (0) off successive deliveries but that was too late and too little. With eight needed off the last two overs, Mooney struck boundaries off successive balls in the 19th over to seal victory for Australia. India Women had started the three-match T20I series by winning the opening game while the visitors came back strongly to win the second game. The fate of the series depended on this match and the Aussies set themselves up with a clinical bowling performance.
Shafali Verma played an explosive innings, scoring 26 runs off 17 balls with six boundaries. Smriti Mandhana (29) and Richa Ghosh (24) also made promising starts but couldn't convert them into substantial scores, leading to India posting a decent total of 147/6 in 20 overs. Shafali's aggressive batting saw four boundaries off Kim Garth, while Megan Schutt conceded the other two. Despite a brisk start, Schutt had the last laugh as Shafali's attempt to drive away from her body resulted in a nick to the toe-end of the bat, and the ball found its way to Healy.
India lost three quick wickets losing Jemimah Rodrigues (2), Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur (3) as India slumped to 66/4 in the 10th over. Richa Ghosh revived the innings with a 28-ball 34 studded with two boundaries and three sixes while Amanjot Kaur scored 17 not out off 14 balls as India reached 147/6, which in the end proved insufficient as their bowlers failed to trouble the visitors. Sutherland and Georgia Wareham ended with two wickets apiece for 12 and 24 runs respectively for Australia.
India concluded a consecutive multi-format series against two of the world's top teams, Australia and England, winning both Test matches but securing only two victories in six white-ball matches. As there are no further matches scheduled until the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh later in the year, the team management will need to address a few issues before the mega event.
Source: IANS

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