Final delivery. A debatable No-ball. Heart break. A couple of days ago, India had it all. They were so close yet so far. They couldn’t do it.
A couple of days later, things changed. The scoreboard changed. The result changed. Nicola Carey was involved in a no-ball catch once again but this time, she was bowling it. India were on the receiving side.
Also, both days had Jhulan Goswami in common. In the last game, she bowled. Today, she was out there with the glasses and the bat.
Despite everything, the toss result stayed the same. It went to Meg Lanning once again. And nobody knows whether she found her luck or if it’s Mithali Raj’s bad call. Either way, advantage Meg Lanning.
Lanning opted to bat first and Haynes was back into the team as well. The openers added 41 runs for the first wicket before Goswami dismissed Haynes. Four deliveries later, she had Lanning for a duck.
Healy was batting well until Perry had hit one straight that kissed the hands of Rana and went on to hit the stumps at the non-striker’s end.
Perry, who had a good start, had to walk back after finding Deepti Sharma at the point. Australia were 87 for 4 at that time.
Beth Mooney once again took on Indian bowlers to score her fifty. She had a couple of chances too. After facing 251 deliveries against India, she finally got out this time, thanks to Rana.
However, Gardner and McGrath continued to score, took Australia to 264. India had to blame themselves for a lot of mis-fields and missed catches.
Chasing a big total, India had 59 runs partnership for the first wicket. Most of them came in extra.
Mandhana was the first wicket to fall, she got out for 22. Yastika Bhatia and Shafali Verma slowly built a big partnership, adding 101 runs to the total. Both the youngsters got to their half-century as well.
However, Molineux got rid of Shafali Verma and minutes later, Yastika Bhatia got out for 64, thanks to Strano’s brilliance in the field.
India then lost Mithali Raj and Pooja Vastrakar early but Deepti Sharma and Sneh Rana built an excellent partnership in the middle.
Deepti added 31 while Rana had 30. Rana even smashed three fours in a row to take India closer.
India needed 4 runs from the final over and it was Jhulan Goswami who smashed a boundary to take the team home.
India picked up a couple of points in the multi-format series and also, they had ended Australia’s winning streak which began with India in India.
