India T20 series: Bowlers, Perry seal Aussie win to level series
The home batters struggled, leaving Australia to largely control the chase and win by six wickets. The series is tied 1-1 with a game left
There was a sense of predictability heading into the second T20I, with the three-match series on the line for Australia after India’s nine-wicket win in the opener. One could expect the Aussies – winners of a record six World Cups in the shortest format – to respond emphatically. And that’s exactly what they did at the DY Patil Stadium here on Sunday.
It had happened earlier on the tour as well. After India's first-ever Test victory against them, Australia bounced back by sweeping the ODIs. This time, Alyssa Healy and Co levelled the T20I series with a six-wicket win in the second game.
Australia won the toss and restricted the hosts to 130/8 before scoring 133/4 in 19 overs, thanks mainly to Ellyse Perry, who was playing a landmark match of her storied career. The 33-year-old all-rounder became the first Australian woman to complete 300 international games.
It was a solid start to the chase for the visitors as Healy and Beth Mooney put on 51 runs for the first wicket. Titas Sadhu, player of the match in the first T20I for her four-wicket haul, was taken for 12 runs and not given another over in the powerplay, while Renuka Singh bowled a decent spell (0/17) with the new ball.
India fought back once Deepti Sharma came into the attack in the eighth over. The off-spinner removed Australia’s openers and had splendid figures of 2/9 after her first three overs. But the Aussies regained control thanks to a 31-run partnership between Perry and Tahlia McGrath.
McGrath was dismissed by Shreyanka Patil and Ashleigh Garnder by Pooja Vastrakar, who was introduced in the attack only in the 16th over. Australia didn’t panic as the in-form Phoebe Litchfield joined Perry to put on an unbeaten 36-run partnership and close out the chase.
While India went into the game with an unchanged playing XI, Australia replaced Darcie Brown with Kim Garth and that move did the trick early on in the game. There was a hint of grass cover on the pitch and Garth exploited it wonderfully by picking two wickets in the powerplay.
Shafali Verma was the first one to fall, trapped leg before to a ball that nipped back a bit. The 19-year-old was dropped for the last two ODIs but made an impressive comeback in the first T20I by hitting an unbeaten 64 off 44 balls This time, though, she never got going, scoring just a run from six deliveries.
That, however, wasn’t the case with Jemimah Rodrigues, who began her innings with a string of boundaries. India’s highest run-scorer since the start of England’s tour last month looked full of confidence until Garth ended her stay at the crease with a delivery that seamed away and took the outside edge.
Smriti Mandhana too was fluent and looked to take the attack to the opposition after the early setbacks. The left-hander hit the shot of the match by whipping one from Garth over the mid-wicket fielder for six. But as has often been the case in recent times, she couldn’t capitalise on her start and was caught in the deep off the bowling of Annabel Sutherland.
Next in was Harmanpreet Kaur (6) and for the fourth time in as many innings the India captain perished for a single-digit score (she fell for a duck in the Test before that). The 34-year-old faced 11 deliveries and couldn’t hit a boundary before attempting a slog sweep against Gardner and finding the fielder.
From 57/4 in the 11th over, India got their best partnership as Richa Ghosh and Deepti added 33 runs for the fifth wicket. Richa, high on confidence after her 96-during the ODI series, was aggressive and hit two fours and a six before being trapped in front by Georgia Wareham. The leg-spinner, who removed Vastrakar as well, was the pick of the Aussie bowlers with figures of 2/17.
Although India added 23 runs in the last two overs thanks to Deepti and Shreyanka, they finished with a below-par total.
The third and final T20 tie will be played on Tuesday.
