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With a three-match series at stake for Australia after India’s nine-wicket win in the opening match, there was a sense of anticipation heading into the second T20I. A strong response can be expected from the Australian team, winners of a record six World Cups in the shortest format. And that’s exactly what he did at the DY Patil Stadium here on Sunday.
This had happened earlier also on tour. After India’s first Test win against them, Australia bounced back with a clean sweep in the ODIs. This time Alyssa Healy and Co. leveled the T20 series with a six-wicket win in the second game.
Australia won the toss and restricted the hosts to 130/8 and then scored 133/4 in 19 overs, thanks largely to Ellyse Perry, who was having one of the historic matches of her storied career. The 33-year-old all-rounder became the first Australian woman to complete 300 international games.
It was a solid start for the visitors chasing the target as Healy and Beth Mooney added 51 runs for the first wicket. Titas Sadhu, player of the match for taking four wickets in the first T20I, was dismissed for 12 and was not given another over in the powerplay, while Renuka Singh bowled a good spell (0/17) with the new ball.
India struggled after Deepti Sharma came into the attack in the eighth over. The off-spinner dismissed Australia’s openers and took impressive figures of 2/9 after his first three overs. But the Australian team regained control thanks to a 31-run partnership between Perry and Tahlia McGrath.
McGrath was dismissed by Shreyanka Patil and Ashley Garnder by Pooja Vastrakar, who was brought into the attack in the 16th over. Australia did not panic as in-form Phoebe Litchfield along with Perry made an unbeaten 36-run partnership and completed the chase.
While India went into the game with an unchanged playing XI, Australia included Kim Garth in place of Darcy Brown and the move worked early in the game. There was a hint of grass cover on the pitch and Garth took wonderful advantage of this by taking two wickets in the powerplay.
Shafali Verma was the first to fall, she was trapped LBW on a ball which bounced back a bit. The 19-year-old was dropped for the last two ODIs but made a spectacular comeback in the first T20I by scoring an unbeaten 64 off 44 balls. However, this time she never got going and could score only one run on six balls.
However, that was not the case with Jemimah Rodrigues, who started her innings with fours. India’s leading run-scorer since the start of the England tour last month was looking confident until Garth ended her stay at the crease with a ball that angled towards the seam. Went and took the outer edge.
Smriti Mandhana was also fluent and looked to attack the opposition after the initial shocks. The left-handed batsman hit the best shot of the match by hitting a six over the midwicket fielder off Garth. But as has often happened in recent times, she could not take advantage of her start and was caught in the deep off the bowling of Annabel Sutherland.
This was followed by Harmanpreet Kaur (6) and for the fourth time in as many innings the Indian captain was out on a single-digit score (she had been out on a duck in the previous Test). The 34-year-old faced 11 balls and could not hit a boundary before attempting a slog sweep against Gardner and finding the fielder.
India got their best partnership at 57/4 in the 11th over, when Richa Ghosh and Deepti added 33 runs for the fifth wicket. Richa, confident after scoring 96 runs during the ODI series, was aggressive and hit two fours and a six before being trapped by Georgia Wareham. The leg spinner, who also dismissed Vastrakar, was the pick of the Australian bowlers with figures of 2/17.
Although India added 23 runs in the last two overs thanks to Deepti and Shreyanka, their score in the end was below normal.
The third and final T20 match will be played on Tuesday.
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