A nail-biter in women's cricket's debut match at the Commonwealth Games and Meg Lanning's number one ranked T20 team managed to pull off a victory from a tough spot, against India on Friday.
After electing to bat first, Shafali Verma and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur's stroked-filled innings helped India post 154/8 with the skipper smashing a half century.
In reply, Australia were in trouble in the first over itself with Alyssa Healy losing her wicket on the second ball to Renuka Singh. Singh then turned the tide fully in India's favour with the wickets of Meg Lanning and Beth Mooney in the third over as the Aussies were reduced to 21/3 in 2.5 overs.
Ashleigh Gardner though changed the tide in Australia favour, scoring an unbeaten 52 to help the side chase down the target in 19 overs. They won the match by 3 wickets
Earlier, India opener Smriti Mandhana, facing pacer Darcie Brown on the first ball of the competition, marked the beginning of a pivotal point in women's cricket with the game aiming to reach the Olympics via the CWG route.
However, the Harmanpreet-led side lost their way in the last five overs with five wickets falling for 39 runs.
Smriti played some elegant shots during her short stay before Shafali and Harmanpreet took the attack to the Australian bowlers. With a bit of luck, Shafali smashed Darcie for three fours in a row in the 10th over to set the alarm bells ringing in the opposition camp.
Harmanpreet got going with a paddle sweep off spinner Ashleigh Gardner. She targeted the spinners like she usually does. Her only six of the innings came in the 20th over when she stepped out to dispatch Jess Jonassen over long on before a sweep brought her seventh 50 in T20 Internationals.
The lack of support from the other end hurt India's chances of putting up a formidable total with the lower middle-order hardly contributing. Having said that, the game was a lot more than the numbers and statistics on a balmy Friday afternoon.
In Australia's chase, the Powerplay overs belonged to pacer Renuka Singh who produced a brilliant spell of fast bowling. She removed the dangerous Alyssa Healy in the first over to make the game interesting before getting rid of Beth Mooney and Australian skipper Meg Lanning.
A sharp inswinger led to the downfall of the aggressive Tahlia McGrath, making it 34 for four with India all over their fancied opponents.
However India lost the momentum as their premier weapons -- left-arm spin twins Radha Yadav (0/42 in 4 overs) and Rajeshwari Gayakwad (0/24 in 2 overs) gave away 66 in six overs between them to let the momentum slip.
Debutant slow medium Meghna Singh was also pedestrian at the back-end when Gardner and King sent her for a leatherhunt.
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