VISAKHAPATNAM: It was the beginning of the 43rd over during India's innings at the ACA-VDCA Stadium here. The Women in Blue were on a rampage of sorts, racing to 287/5 in 42 overs. They had seen Smriti Mandhana lay the foundation, break records, become the first woman cricketer to score a 1000 ODI runs in a calendar year before eventually getting out for 80 runs from 66 balls.
Along with Pratika Rawal, who also went on to score a fifty (75 off 96 balls), she added 155 runs for the first wicket. Once the openers fell, the middle-order had kept the momentum going with Richa Ghosh getting promoted to No 6. Jemimah Rodrigues and Ghosh looked comfortable in the middle. Desperate to put the brakes, Australia turned to their best pacer in this World Cup — Annabel Sutherland.
Sutherland had already taken the wicket of Rawal with a short ball and was now up against Rodrigues and Ghosh. She started with a short ball to both and conceded seven runs in the first four balls. A fuller delivery followed before Sutherland resorted to another short-of-length ball against Ghosh. Except this time, it was a back-of-arm release and it worked. Deceived by the lack of pace, Ghosh found the fielder, and Australia the opening.
In her next over, the same back-of-arm delivery worked against Rodrigues too. And the floodgates opened. From 294/5 after 43 overs, India were bundled out for 330 in 48.5 overs, with Sutherland taking 5/40 on her birthday. Judging by the way the pitch behaved and how nicely the ball came on to the bat, it seemed like they had fallen short by a fair few. Even more so considering the fact that India went in with five bowlers and Australia could bat till No 10.
And it showed in the chase with Alyssa Healy walking the talk from the pre-match press conference. On the eve of the contest when asked if it is ideal to take a cautious approach in the powerplay, Healy did not agree with the premise of it. “I actually still think the power play plays a crucial role in this World Cup. There's a little bit of a fine balance in that regard, but I think both of us at the top of the order are quite aggressive players, so we're not exactly going to curb that at any point,” she had said.
That is exactly what Healy and Phoebe Litchfield did. They took the attack to Amanjot Kaur and Kranti Gaud first, and then to Sneh Rana, adding 82 runs in the powerplay. Litchfield fell to India’s best bowler on the night — NR Sree Charani — but Healy held it all together. Against one of her favourite opponents, the Australian captain brought out her best. She launched a calculated counterattack, built a partnership with Ellyse Perry before the all-rounder retired hurt, and kept Australia on course.
When she and Beth Mooney were batting together, it seemed like the contest was all over. So much so that the Indian leadership group looked fidgety. For almost every delivery, Harmanpreet Kaur and Mandhana were in the ears of the bowlers. That is when Rodrigues pulled off a stunning catch to get rid of Mooney. It inspired India to an extent, but did not stop Healy. Despite the humidity and exhaustion, she battled on, and got to her century in 84 balls.
Shortly after, she unleashed herself again, allowing Ashleigh Garnder to hold fort and take the chase deep. A six and four came of Rana before Gaud, Amanjot and even Sree Charani took a beating. It seemed like she was going to take Australia home, but Rana held on to a low catch. She fell for 142 from 107 balls, but not before putting Australia in a winning position. India tried their best to fight back with Deepti Sharma trapping Tahlia McGrath, and Amanjot castling Gardner, but Australia needed 16 runs from 18 balls and Perry had gotten back in the middle.
From thereon, it was all about holding the nerves together and Australia did just that to get across the line.
Brief scores: India 330 in 48.5 ovs (Mandhana 80, Rawal 75; Sutherland 5/40) lost to Australia 331/7 in 49 ovs (Healy 142, Perry 47 n.o, Gardner 45; Sree Charani 3/41).
