Sydney Cricket Ground hosted an incredible game of cricket on
Super Sunday with India eves taking on Australia in the third and the last of
the T20 matches. The match went down till the last ball, with India falling
short of 15 runs to register a clean sweep.
Mithali Raj won the toss and rightly elected to field first,
knowing her team’s ability to chase big targets. India’s number one bowler Jhulan
Goswami got it right the very first ball of the innings when she sent the
Australia opener Alyssa Healy back to the dug-out. Pitching it slightly outside
off and tempting Healy to drive, she had her bunny when Healy played it on the
up straight to the point fielder Deepti Sharma. India would have expected to
bundle out Australia after this fantastic start, however Beth Mooney (34) and
Meg Lanning (26) took the game away from the visitors. Elysse Perry, who chose
to play cricket instead of soccer today, made the most of it, when she
bludgeoned 52 runs off just 42 balls, hitting four boundaries and three sixes.
Rajeshwari Gayakwad was the pick of the bowlers for India grabbing two wickets,
but was expensive as she gave away 23 runs in her four overs. Jhulan Goswami
and Deepti Sharma were the other bowlers among wickets, who picked up one
wicket apiece.
After chasing 141 runs in the first T20 at Adelaide, the
visitors were pretty confident of repeating their heroics in this match. India
came out to bat with a new opening pair in Mithali Raj and Vanitha VR, as
Smriti Mandhana was recovering from the shoulder injury that she suffered while
fielding. The openers got off to a flyer with four overs 32 for no loss. In the
fifth over of the Indian innings, Rene Farrell deceived Raj by bowling a back
of a hand delivery to rattle her stumps. Vanitha played well for her 28, but was
dismissed by Jess Jonassen, thanks to an excellent running catch by Perry in
the deep. Veda Krishnamurthy (21) and Harmanpreet Kaur (24) tried to
consolidate, but both of them fell against the run of play. Mandhana came in to
bat in the 11th over with India wanting 70 runs off 56 balls. She manoeuvred the strike well but failed to
find the odd boundary. Ellyse Perry had an amazing outing as she picked up 4-12
in her four overs, which was also her career best. India lost the match by 15
runs, but won the series 2-1. Ellyse Perry was adjudged as the Man of the Match
for her match winning all-round performance.
