CHENNAI: When Deepti Sharma took the Australian bowlers to cleaners, smashing an unbeaten 16-ball 36 to help India finish with 172/5 in the first T20I at the DY Patil, it seemed like the Women in Blue had a game in their hands. However, Beth Mooney (89 n.o off 57) and Tahlia McGrath (40 n.o off 29) made a mockery of the target as Australia cruised to victory with eleven balls and nine wickets to spare.
Not that India were too bad with the ball, but it was a combination of bad fielding and some calculated chasing masterclass from the Australian women that stole the show. That Harmanpreet Kaur’s poor loss record - she acknowledged it before the start of the game - and the dew factor did not help them either as they were put in to bat first.
Meghna Singh, whose selection was under the radar for her poor T20 record this year (3 wickets in 6 matches with economy of 8.73 in T20Is vs AUS/PAK/BAR/ENG and 2 wickets in 5 matches with 8.4 RPO in 2022-23 domestic T20s), had another poor outing going for 27 runs in two overs.
Earlier in the day, India started off well racing to 48/2 in the end of the powerplay, but a lull period followed as they scored 39/2 in the next 42 balls. But Richa Ghosh took charge from thereon, smashing Alana King for three consecutive boundaries, including a six.
Devika Vaidya, too, joined the party as she sent Jess Jonassen over the ropes. Once Richa got out, it was all Deepti, who played the field, smashed four consecutive boundaries off Megan Schutt in the final over. It was her cameo that helped India score 39 runs in the last three overs. In the end, it was not enough.
Brief scores: India 172/5 in 20 ovs (Deepti 36 n.o, Richa 36) lost to Australia 173/1 in 18.1 ovs (Mooney 89 n.o, McGrath 40 n.o).