Canberra: A record opening stand between Georgia Voll and Beth Mooney paved the way for Australia to level a three-match T20I series with a 19-run victory against India in the second match here on Thursday.
Voll and Mooney added 128 runs for the first wicket to register Australia’s highest opening stand against India in T20Is, with the hosts posting 163 for 5.
India, despite making a sparkling start to the chase, crumbled in the end to finish at 144 for nine. Ashleigh Gardner claimed 3/22, while Kim Garth, Annabel Sutherland and Australia captain Sophie Molineux took two wickets each.
The series-deciding third T20I will be played at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday.
India were 65/1 in the ninth over when their slide began as the visitors lost six wickets for seven runs towards the end.
India were off the blocks quickly as Shafali Verma’s early fireworks was followed by Smriti Mandhana opening up. The two Indian openers put on 54 in the powerplay to put the team on track of the chase.
But Molineux applied the brakes when she pinned Shafali leg-before for a 23-ball 29 (5 fours) and Gardner got the key wicket of Jemimah Rodrigues (4).
India’s run-rate slowed down with the two consecutive wickets and a third followed soon when Mandhana was caught sharply down the leg by Mooney off Garth.
With India struggling at 71 for three, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (30) and Richa Ghosh (19) joined forces and did well to add 55 runs for the fourth wicket.
However, the asking rate kept moving up which in turn forced the Indians to take unwanted risks. Harmanpreet was caught by her counterpart Molineux off Garth on the penultimate ball of the 17th over at extra cover, and three balls later, Ghosh was stumped off Gardner. India’s hopes suffered another big blow when Gardner had Deepti Sharma (0) caught by Sutherland in the 18th over, with India slipping to 128 for six.
Earlier, Voll (88) and Mooney (46) recorded the best-ever opening partnership for Australia of 128 runs against India as the hosts posted 163 for five. Arundhati Reddy, who saw a catch being dropped off her final ball in the innings off Ashleigh Gardner (10 not out), once again
delivered the goods dismissing both the Australian openers to return 4-0-30-2.