Indian women’s team got off to a losing start to their tour of Australia, going down by 36 runs against the home side in a one-day warm-up encounter in Brisbane on Saturday. Responding to Australia’s challenging 278 with only 242 of their own, the visitors lost the match by 36 runs.
As it happened, innings of substance from the Aussie trio of Rachael Haynes (65), Meg Lanning (59) and Beth Mooney (59) allowed the hosts to cross the 270-run mark with nine wickets lost in their allotted 50 overs.
Leg-spinner Poonam Yadav (3/28) and experienced seamer Jhulan Goswami (2/36) were the pick of the bowlers for the Indians. Sneh Rana (1/38) and Ekta Bisht (1/37) also chipped in with a wicket apiece.
But despite strong efforts from Poonam and Goswami, the Aussies had the substantial score they had aimed for, thanks to opening batter Haynes who top-scored for the innings while skipper Lanning and middle-order player Mooney struck fine half-centuries for their team.
The run-chase started precariously for India, as they lost elegant left-hander Smriti Mandhana (10) and skipper Mithali Raj (1) quite early in the piece. Mandhana’s young opening partner Shafali Verma (27), was in her usually free-flowing avatar and got off to a quick start. But she soon fell to delivery from pacer Stella Campbell (3/38), who took three wickets on the day.
The Indians found themselves 4/88 when Richa Ghosh (11) got out, which soon became 106/5 when Yastika Bhatia also fell after her encouraging knock of 41.
Pooja Vastrakar (57) and Deepti Sharma (49) then tried to resurrect the Indian innings with a resilient stand of 89 runs for the sixth wicket. But with Vastrakar getting out and the asking rate climbing up, Indians went on another downward curve with their chase and finished well short of the 279-run target.
While Campbell got more wickets, it was star all-rounder Ellyse Perry (2/38) who made the most telling of blows to India’s chances of winning, dismissing Mandhana and Raj in her spell.
Brief scores
Australia women 278/9 in 50 overs (Haynes 65, Lanning 59; Yadav 3/28, Goswami 2/36) beat India women 242/7 in 50 overs (Vastrakar 57, Sharma 49; Campbell 3/38, Perry 2/38) by 36 runs
