Australia thrashed India on Friday, to register an easy victory by nine wickets in the 1st T20I of the five-match series with 11 balls to spare.
After Australia won the toss and opted to bowl first, Team India started on a high note with Shafali Verma smashing Megan Schutt for a four and a six-over long-on in the first over, which yielded 12 runs.
Smriti Mandhana (28 of 22 balls) cut debutant Kim Garth for a four, before Shafali slashed Ellyse Perry on the off-side for her second maximum, a ball after an inside edge went past the keeper for a boundary.
However, Perry had her revenge when she dismissed Shafali for a room on the leg side and the batter ended up giving a catch to skipper Alyssa Perry. This was the fourth time Perry has dismissed the 18-year-old Indian power-hitter.
The experienced Deepti Sharma blazed away to an unbeaten 15-ball 36 to power the Indian women's team to 172/5.
Sharma smashed four successive boundaries in the final over, bowled by Megan Schutt, to boost India's run rate after Richa Ghosh (36 off 20 balls) and the returning Devika Vaidya (25 off 24) added 56 quick runs for the fifth wicket.
Chasing the total, openers Beth Mooney and Alyssa Healy started with a bang. Indian bowlers struggled for the first wicket for a long time Vaidya sent the Australian captain 37 (23) back to the hut, leaving the guests at 73/1. Tahila McGrath came to the field and Australia batters were unstoppable after that.
While Mooney hammered 89 off just 57 deliveries including 16 boundaries, McGrath smashed 40 runs of 29 balls including four boundaries and a six and guided Australia to an absolutely easy victory.
Player of the match Beth Mooney said, "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."
India captain Harmanpreet said," I think yes. It was a decent total - we were in the game till the 13th over. But after that we gave away too many boundaries and even the fielding was not upto the mark. Night games are always like that - sometimes it's difficult to judge the ball. But we have to take those chances to win. Our bowlers were trying our best. But once they got their reprieves, they played freely."
(Inputs by PTI)
