India A Women brown washed Australia A 3-0 in T20 series

One of the quintessential rules of life is “What goes up comes down and what comes down has to go up”. The recently concluded tour of Australia A Women to India is the perfect example of this. The two sides locked horns against each other in a three-match one day series and a three- match T20 series that was played at MCA Ground, BKC, Mumbai. In a matter of 10 days, the headline has changed from Australia A whitewashed India A in one day series to India A brown washed Australia A in T20 series.

After facing embarrassing defeat in the one-day series, it was decided that the Indian Women’s team selected to play for the ICC Women’s World T20 will face the Australia A in the T20 series. One of the major reasons for this was that the Women in Blue would get the crucial match practice prior to the ICC event. Led by Harmanpreet Kaur, India A took on Australia A in the first T20 on October 22. Chasing a formidable score of 160 put on by the Aussies, India’s opening bat Smriti Mandhana struck a match winning 72 and was ably assisted by the skipper who chipped in with a strokeful 45 to see their side home. India A won the first T20 by four wickets with one over to spare.

Taking a wealth of confidence from their first outing, India A simply bludgeoned the visitors in the second fixture, when they posted a mammoth 184-5 in 20 overs, courtesy the batting brilliance of former India T20 skipper Mithali Raj (105 not out off 61 balls). The present day skipper also joined hands with Raj and made a quickfire 57 (32). The Aussies were bundled out for 156, losing the game by 28 runs. Indian spinning attack consisting of Anuja Patil, Poonam Yadav, and Deepti Sharma made merry as each of them scalped couple of wickets apiece.

Australia A was 2-0 up in one day series and India A was 2-0 up in the T20 before the last game of both the series was played. In the last T20, batting first the home team put up a respectable total of 154-8 in 20 overs. After losing their openers cheaply, young Jemimah Rodrigues consolidated the innings striking 38 (29). Captain Kaur, who had a fantastic T20 series so far, showed the world why she is one of the best T20 players, as she went on to score a useful 41 (27). The target was a tricky one for the visitors. Georgia Redmayne (19), Naomi Stalenberg (26), and Heather Graham (20) got off to good starts but failed to capitalize. On the other hand, India’s spin queen Poonam Yadav spun the web to grab 3-23 in her four overs.

In a matter of 10 days, the pendulum of success quietly moved from Australia A to India A. the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side will definitely take a leaf out of this T20 series when they set their foot on the Caribbean land in the next month.  

Source: Twitter/Asian Cricket Council