Even though Shafali Varma and Richa Ghosh played with a lot of purpose, Australia was able to keep India’s score to 147/6 in the third and final T20I of the series, which took place on Tuesday at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. With the series tied at 1-1, Australia needs to score 148 runs to win both white-ball series. They already won all three ODI series.
Australia put India to bat first, and they got off to a good start. Opening batsman Shafali Varma showed some attacking intent by hitting Kim Garth for three fours in one over. Alyssa Healy, captain and keeper, caught her on a Megan Schutt throw for 26 runs off 17 balls, with six fours. Her short inning was over. It was 39/1 after 4.4 overs. After Shafali was out, Smriti Mandhana kept hitting. She scored 12 runs in Ashleigh Gardner’s over to bring the score to 50 in 5.5 overs. India was 51/1 after six overs at the end of the first power play. Smriti (20*) and Jemimah Rodrigues were both still not out. Rodrigues didn’t do well in the final game of the series. Georgia Wareham caught a ball from Annabel Sutherland and only scored two runs. It was 60/2 after eight overs for India.
In the next over, Wareham got rid of Mandhana for 29 runs off 28 balls, including two fours and a six. This made India’s progress very slow. Gardner caught her in the middle of the wicket, up close and deep. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur was bowled out by Sutherland for just three runs in the next over, making it a string of low scores. India was 66/4 after 9.5 overs, with four of their best batters in the stand. All-rounder Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh were now in charge of putting things back together. It looked like they were going to make a strong stand until Wareham got her second wicket by getting Deepti out for 14 runs in 18 balls. A little over 14 overs, India was 99/5. Indian scored 100 runs in 15 overs.
However, Richa didn’t let it affect her hitting game. She hit Wareham and Schutt for fours and sixes in their own overs. She began to work together with Amanjot Kaur in a way that looked good. Richa was out for 34 runs off of 28 balls, with two fours and three sixes. This finished the 36-run stand. India had 135 runs and 6 wickets after 19.1 overs. But Amanjot (17* in 14 balls) and Pooja Vastrakar (7* in two balls) came in strong at the end to help India get to 147/6 in 20 overs. For Australia, Sutherland (2/12) and Wareham (2/24) were the best bowlers. It was Gardner and Schutt who each got two wickets.
