With just few days left for the Women's T20 World Cup, the national Indian women's team has begun their preparations well. The bating duo of Smriti Mandhana and experienced Harmanpreet Kaur surprised the opponents with their batting performance which ultimately lead India A attain victory in the lung-opener of the three match T20 series on Monday, defeating Australia A by four wickets.
Making a mockery of the stiff target put by the Aussies, both Mandhana (72 off 40 balls) and Kaur (45 of 39 balls) dominated the bowlers by brutally thrashing them all across the boundary fence. Batting first, Australia A scored 160 runs losing six wickets in 20 overs.
With just one over to spare, India A won the heart-racing thriller by scoring 163/6 to surpass the target. Left-handed batsman Mandhana played a classy innings after the inexperienced Jemimah Rodrigues and Taniya Bhatia fell cheaply for the scores of 4 and 0 respectively. All-rounder Pooja Vastrakar played a responsible innings after in-form Kaur fell when India A were 126-4. She remained unbeaten on 21 to take the side to home with a victory.
For India A, Sharma and Anuja Patil picked two wickets each. For Australia, Heather Graham scored 43 runs. The second match will be held at the same venue on October 24.
Brief scores:
India A women 163/6 in 19 overs (Smriti Mandhana 72, Harmanpreet Kaur 45; Lauren Cheatle 2/18) beat Australia A women 160/6 in 20 overs (Heather Graham 43, Naomi Stalenberg 39; Anuja Patil 2/22)