In the third and final Twenty20 International in Queensland on Sunday Australia, the women’s cricket team defeated India women by 14 runs to take the series 2-0.
The series opener did not play well and the hosts won the last two fixtures to be the winner of the series. Beth Mooney played well of 61 off just 43 deliveries. Tahila McGrath scored 44 off 31 and helped hosts to a total of 149 for five.
India women’s team saw a poor start chasing 150 for the win and lost Shafali Verma in the second over. Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues scored 57 runs for the second wicket but Jemimah holed out to Tayla Vlaeminck at long-off. Mandhana brought up her half-century and kept putting the bad deliveries away for a boundary. She scored 52 off 49. Richa Ghosh gave few big shots from towards the backend of the innings. Eventually, India fell 14 runs short.
India women will aim to restore equality in the final T20I of the series after this nail-biter finish. With the win, Australia took a 9-5 lead in the ongoing multi-format series.
Earlier in this match, Indian bowlers had sent the top four batters for mere 73 runs. But Beth Mooney approached 50, keeping Indian bowlers on their toes. In the middle, Mooney was joined by last match star Tahlia McGrath. Tahlia McGrath and Wareham took Australia to 149/5. Later, Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana began India’s chase with two runs off the first over.
