IND vs AUS, Women's T20 WC: Poonam Yadav's Magical Spell Help India Beat Australia By 17 Runs At Sydney

Things really tightened up for Australia when leg-spinner Poonam Yadav picked two wickets in two overs with back-to-back wrong'uns, to depart Haynes and Perry and put India right back on top in the game

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Sydney: 'Player of the Match' Poonam Yadav's magical spell (4/19) - third best figures for India in a T20 World Cup - helped India women beat defending champions Australia by 17 runs to win the Women's T20 World Cup opener at the Sydney Showground Stadium on Friday. Chasing a 134-run target, Australia were bundled out for 115 in their 20 overs. Openers Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney gave Aussies a solid start. India wasted a bowling review after Mooney survived an lbw review against Deepti Sharma in the third over. In the sixth over, Shikha Pandey picked the much-needed wicket to break the opening Australian partnership as she departed in-from Beth Mooney for 6 off 12 balls at the end of Australia's powerplay. As Healy lead the way for Aussies, skipper Meg Lanning edged behind off Rajeshwari Gayakwad and she lost her wicket for 5 runs. Just when it seemed that Healy - after scoring a fifty - would take the game away from India, Poonam Yadav struck with the ball to get her caught and bowled for a well-made 51 and Australia lost their third wicket, needing 66 runs off 60 balls with 7 wickets in hands. Things really tightened up for Australia when leg-spinner Poonam Yadav picked two wickets in two overs with back-to-back wrong'uns, to depart Haynes and Perry and put India right back on top in the game. Australia lost five wickets with the scoreboard reading 76. Though Yadav missed out on a hat-trick but she ensured that Australia lose half their side in the chase. And it was not the end of her show as she picked her 4th wicket in her 3rd over in form of  Jonassen and reduce the Aussies to 82/6 in 14 overs. Impressive stumping from wicket-keeper Taniya Bhatia off Pandey's delivery sent Sutherland back to the pavilion for 2 off 5 balls. Australia collapsed after Kimmince got run out attempting a second run. Earlier, Deepti Sharma's unbeaten knock (49* off 46 balls) helped India finish at 132/4 in the Women's T20 World Cup opener against Australia at the Sydney Showground Stadium on Friday. 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