Well, who would have thought this through?
India rides high on the back of Poonam Yadav who produced wonders with the ball today to break the Australian team into pieces and to win the first T20I of the World Cup.
Meg Lanning surprisingly opted to bowl first today and would have regretted it right at the end of six overs, thanks to Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana. However, the roller coaster ride began for India as they lost quick wickets, thanks to Jess Jonassen, putting all the pressure on the shoulders of Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma. The duo added a beautiful 50+ partnership, something vital considering the condition of the pitch. Australia targetted that middle-leg line and troubled the Indians very well.
Deepti Sharma stood unbeaten at 49 and India finished at 132/4 in their 20 overs. The team certainly did look ten to fifteen runs short.
Australia then saw the rise of Healy once again, at the right time, where she dominated with some beautiful display of power-hitting to reach fifty after a long time.
On the other hand, the team lost Mooney early who actually was struggling with her timing. After her dismissal, Lanning took the charge to come in next instead of Gardner. She didn’t last for a while though. Thanks to Gayakwad’s brilliant bowling.
While Australia was looking great, India had Poonam Yadav coming through. One might wonder why she came to bowl late.
Poonam Yadav was taken was a six by Healy then she gave a catch straight back to her. In the next delivery, she sent Perry packing.
In what would have been a hattrick for Yadav, Bhatia let a catch slip from her hands. You cannot blame her though.
What followed next was some disciplined bowling that broke through the resistance of the Australian team who had no clue.
Yadav ended with four wickets to her name and Pandey with three wickets. The player of the match was absolutely Taniya Bhatia who was amazing behind the stumps and incorporated four dismissals.
For Australia, only Healy and Gardner managed to reach the double-figure mark.
Now, with a loss here, Australia has a lot of work to do to stay in the tournament that is happening at their home.
