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Beth Mooney's sensational knock drives Australia to a terrific victory over India

image-lbgqgzbiBeth Mooney (left) slammed 89* off 57 (Source: Twitter)

Australia Women clinched the first fixture of the five-match T20I series by nine wickets against India on Friday in Mumbai. 

India posts a daunting total

Invited to bat first, India got off to a terrific start with Shafali Verma's terrific cameo of 21 off 10 balls. Then, the composed display of Smriti Mandhana helped the Women in Blue to reach 48 in six overs. 

However, the hosts lost the wickets of Mandhana (20), Jemimah Rodrigues (0) and Harmanpreet Kaur (21) in quick succession.  With the scorecard reading, 76/4 in the 12th over, India certainly needed a solid partnership to make a comeback. At this point arrived Richa Ghosh, who played a terrific knock of 36 off 20 to put the team back on track. 

In the end, Deepti Sharma smoked 36* off 15, while hitting four successive boundaries in the last over paving way for India to post 172 on the board. Devika Vaidya remained unbeaten on 25 off 24. For the visitors, Ellyse Perry was the pick of the bowlers with two scalps. 


Australia too strong at the end

In response to the chase, Australian openers Beth Mooney and Alyssa Healy made good use of the loose balls to provide a momentum to the innings in the powerplay. As skipper Healy (37) was cruising along with a couple of big sixes, Devika Vaidya secured a breakthrough by dismissing her in the ninth over. 

At No.3 came Tahlia McGrath, who played a second fiddle to Mooney, who was striking in brilliantly. The highlight of southpaw's innings was four boundaries in a single over off Vaidya. 

Soon, game slipped away rather easily from India's hands as Mooney (89*) pierced the gaps easily, while vice-captain McGrath (40*) displaying maturity. The duo added an unbeaten 100-run partnership as Australia sealed the chase with 11 balls to spare. 

Brief Scores: 

India Women - 172/5 (20)

Deepti Sharma 36* (15), Richa Ghosh 36 (20);
Ellyse Perry 2/10, Annabel Sutherland 1/21

Australia Women - 173/1 (18.1)

Beth Mooney 89* (57), Tahlia McGrath 40* (29);
Devika Vaidya 1/33

Result: Australia Women won by 9 wkts

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