The Indian women's cricket team was off to a perfect start at Sydney against Australia. Both Indian openers Smriti Mandhana (10 off 11 balls) and Shafali Verma's shot making was right on point as they smashed a couple of boundaries in the first three overs to get their squad off to a flying start.
Jess Jonassen got the major breakthrough for Australia. She trapped Mandhana for a LBW. Meanwhile, Shefali raced to 29 runs off just 14 balls including 5 boundaries and a big six.
Ellyse Perry came up with the second breakthrough as she removed India's fiery opener Shafali Verma within the powerplay, post her thunderous 15-ball-29 run knock. After Verma's departure, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur joined Jemimah Rodrigues (24 off 30 balls) in the middle with India at 46/2.
All of a sudden India found themselves in trouble after a blistering start as they lost Harmanpreet (2 off 5 balls), courtesy Healy who pulled off a brilliant stumping.
After losing three quick wickets in form of Smriti, Shafali and Harmanpreet. India's scoreboard read 63/3 after first 10 overs in their innings. Deepti Sharma and Rodrigues then stitched a crucial partnership to steady India's innings. Their partnership nearly hit 50 and India are 3/95 with five overs to go. In the end, Deepti Sharma’s 49* took India to 132/4 in their 20 overs.
Playing XIs:
India: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Deepti Sharma, Veda Krishnamurthy, Shikha Pandey, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad
Australia: Alyssa Healy (wk), Beth Mooney, Ashleigh Gardner, Meg Lanning (c), Ellyse Perry, Rachael Haynes, Annabel Sutherland, Jess Jonassen, Delissa Kimmince, Molly Strano, Megan Schutt