You just don’t associate a series loss with the Australian Women’s Cricket team, especially when playing at home. But the current Indian bunch under Harmanpreet Kaur is quite special, which could have just kickstarted the end of Aussie domination. The Indian tea went on to win the third T20I in Adelaide, by 17 runs, to win the series 2-1.
Australia beaten at home
What is mind-boggling is, this is Australia’s first-ever T20I series loss at home since 2017. This also coincides with Sophie Molineux’s era, where she has just taken over the all-format captaincy from Alyssa Healy. Talking about the match, it started with a bang with Smriti Mandhana scoring 82 from 55, at a strike-rate of 149.
Mandhana & Jemimah lead India’s charge
That was followed by a majestic 59 from 46 by Jemimah Rodrigues, that took the team to 176/6. Not to forget, Jemi and Smriti had a partnership of 121 from 82 deliveries only. Come the chase, it was an overall good show by the visitors. Shree Charani returned with figures of 3/32, while Shreyanka Patil got 3/22.
Ashleigh Gardener was the only Aussie batter who got going, and scored 57, but in a losing cause. At one stage they were reduced to 98/5. Overall, Mandhana emerged as the highest run-getter (129), while Arundhati Reddy finished with most wickets (8).
Earlier in the series, India had won by 21 runs at Sydney, followed by 19-run loss at Canberra. And now, the caravan will move to Brisbane for the 1st ODI. Both teams will also play a Test, beginning on March 6 in Perth.
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