![Ellyse Perry and Phoebe Litchfield constructed the chase to perfection. [Image: Getty] India vs Australia](https://www.womenscricinsight.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/373744.webp "Ellyse Perry and Phoebe Litchfield constructed the chase to perfection. [Image: Getty]")
Australia easily defeated India by six wickets in the second women’s Twenty20 match to tie the three-match series here on Sunday, despite an outstanding all-around performance from Deepti Sharma. Deepti scored a crucial 31 to raise the team’s total to 130/8 after India’s top batsmen played a dismal job of blowing early wickets.
The crowd at the DY Patil Stadium was almost full when she played a brilliant spell of 4-0-22-2, but India was simply unable to score enough runs to pose a threat to Australia. Phoebe Litchfield (18 not out off 12 balls, 3x4s) hit two fours in the first three balls of the penultimate over from Shreyanka Patil to crush India’s hopes with 15 needed to win off 12 balls.
The great Ellyse Perry, who was participating in her 300th international match across all formats, celebrated the achievement with a brilliant 34 not out (21 balls, 3x4s, 2x6s) and helped Australia cross the finish line with a six to win the match.
During the powerplay, Australia scored 47 runs short of the objective, with both Beth Mooney and Alyssa Healy (26), who faced no problems from the Indian bowlers. However, Patil produced India’s first wicket against Deepti in the eighth over when he made an amazing diving catch to help remove Healy. Soon after, Patil ducked as she went to get the ball, running a few steps ahead of her.
In the tenth over, Mooney (20 off 29 balls, 2x4s) was dismissed, giving Deepti the second breakthrough once more. The series finale will now take place at this same location on Tuesday. Earlier, India finished with a below-average total as the bats failed to convert starts. Despite having strong starts, Smriti Mandhana (age 23), Richa Ghosh (age 23), and even Jemimah Rodrigues (age 13) were unable to capitalize.
However, Deepti persevered until the very end to increase the team’s score as much as she could, while wickets continued to fall steadily from the other end. India was given a blow early on by Kim Garth (2/27), who trapped Shafali Verma (1) leg-before stumps. Garth then managed to snag an on-song Rodrigues, who got off to a strong start with three fours.
After scoring over ten runs per over in the powerplay in the opening game, India was only able to muster 33/2 despite a few lovely strokes from Mandhana.
After flicking Garth over a deep square leg for a six, the vice-captain of India missed the boundary ropes with another over-cover shot that resulted in a four. But in the ninth over, Mandhana hit a short ball straight to Ellyse Perry at deep midwicket, unable to control the ball from Annabel Sutherland.
Harmanpreet Kaur, the captain of India, failed to score runs with the bat again, adding to their anguish with six off 12 balls.
The captain lost his life on what had been Harmanpreet’s bread and butter stroke, the sweep, despite having the ideal opportunity to pull India out of its funk. In the same over, Ghosh hit Gardner for a monster six, but she was unable to sustain her momentum for a large score.
Ghosh failed to hit a slower delivery from Georgia Wareham that smacked her on the pads in front of the wickets, with all eyes on the wicketkeeper-batter for a much-needed boost. Even Wareham believed the ball had pitched outside leg when Australia’s appeal was knocked down on the field, but skipper Alyssa Healy proceeded with a DRS appeal, which resulted in an overturning of the decision in favour of the visitors.
In a brilliant session of 4-0-17-2, Wareham went on to claim Pooja Vastrakar (9) for her second wicket; however, this time, the bowler and captain agreed on a proper DRS call and they eventually won.
Brief Scores: India vs Australia 2nd T20I
India 130/8 in 20 overs (Deepti Sharma 30, Richa Ghosh 23; Georgia Wareham 2-17, Annabel Sutherland 2-18) lost to Australia 133/4 in 19 overs (Ellyse Perry 34*, Alyssa Healy 26; Deepti Sharma 2-22) by 6 wickets.
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