Beth Mooney continued her imperious run against India women, scoring a fluent 89* to power Australia women to a nine-wicket win in the first T20I in Mumbai on Friday, December 9.
The unrivalled champions of the women’s game and the current ODI and T20 World Cup holders began their tour of India in an emphatic manner, registering an emphatic nine-wicket win in the first T20I played at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy in Mumbai on Friday.
The star of the show was Mooney, who added 73 and an unbeaten 100 with stand-in skipper Alyssa Healy and Mahila McGrath for the first two wickets respectively, to make light work of the 173-run chase. India managed to restrict the openers to 16 in the first three overs of the chase before both struck a boundary each off left-armer Anjali Sarvani in the fourth. Mooney then expertly played the field to strike three consecutive fours off Renuka Singh in the next over to put Australia on course.
The two batters contributed evenly in an opening stand lasting 8.5 overs before Healy smashed a full-toss from wrist-spinner Devika Vaidya straight to Harmanpreet Kaur to cover. Radha Yadav, having dropped a sharp chance to give Mooney a reprieve earlier in the innings, shelled another to hand Tahila McGrath a life, and the visitors extended their dominance thereafter.
The duo took 48 runs combined from overs 15-17, and a brace from McGrath off Deepti Sharma got Australia home with 11 balls to spare. Mooney struck 16 fours in an unbeaten 57-ball stay, while McGrath’s 40* off 29 included four hits to the fence and one over it.
Earlier, India managed 172/5 in the allotted 20 overs after being put in to bat. Shafali Verma, who has been included in the Indian squad for the Women’s U19 Cricket World Cup 2023, began emphatically with two fours and as many sixes in a 10-ball 21, while Smriti Mandhana too, showed promise with four boundaries off Kim Garth as India stood at 45/1 after four overs.
Jemimah Rodrigues fell to Elysse Perry for a six-ball duck, the all-rounder having dismissed Verma earlier. Harmanpreet and Mandhana failed to convert their starts, as did wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh (36 off 20). Devika Vaidya (25* off 24) and Deepti (36* off 15) helped India to a strong finish, accumulating 40 off the last three overs.
“Love putting the Australian shirt on first and foremost. And fortunate enough to come up a few times against India as well. Played a couple of nice shots tonight and glad to get the team over the line. Really nice wicket.
Had a tip before coming that we were going to play on some nice batting wickets. It’s true to form out there. Fast outfield and a great crowd tonight,”
said Mooney, who was named the Player of the Match.
The Aussies have now taken a 1-0 lead in the five-match series, with the second T20I to be played at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai on Sunday.
Brief scores
India women 172/5 in 20 overs (Sharma 36, Ghosh 36; Perry 2-10) lost to Australia women 173/1 in 18.1 overs (Mooney 89*, McGrath 40*, Healy 37; Vaidya 1-33) by nine wickets
