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India 145 for 1 (Shafali 64*, Mandhana 54, Wareham 1-20) beat Australia 141 (Litchfield 49, Sadhu 4-17, Patil 2-19) by nine wickets
Shafali and Mandhana then bossed the Australia bowlers with assured half-centuries to seal a nine-wicket win for India in the eighteenth over. Jemimah Rodrigues remained unbeaten on six after hitting the winning runs.
Sadhu drags Australia back
After India opted to bowl at the toss, Renuka Singh Thakur bowled a tight first over. But Beth Mooney turned aggressor, and Australia chugged along to 26 for no loss in three overs. That is when Sadhu, a late addition to the XI, was introduced to the attack.
Bowling a tidy line and length from the start, Sadhu allowed only two runs off her first four balls, including an unsuccessful caught-behind review. But she didn’t have to wait too long for a wicket as Mooney miscued a skier that Harmanpreet Kaur grabbed backtracking from mid-on. A struggling Alyssa Healy then hit Renuka for four before offering Harmanpreet another catch at mid-off.
Sadhu then tied Tahlia McGrath down, bowling four dots including an edge that fell just short of the slip cordon. With the pressure building, McGrath tried to go inside-out to an outswinger only to miscue it to deep third.
In a rare occasion of waywardness, Sadhu welcomed Ashleigh Gardner with a wide down leg, but then drew a leading edge from her, taking the catch on the followthrough to complete a near-perfect powerplay performance for India.
Litchfield, Perry launch comeback
From a position of 33 for 4, Litchfield and Perry then dug in even as Sadhu almost struck again when Richa Ghosh couldn’t grab a chance when Litchfield miscued a reverse slap.
The pair took off in the tenth over against Vastrakar, with Litchfield playing a pick-up pull and then going inside-out to cover next ball. Perry completed the over with a majestic pull behind square and the runs kept flowing against Shreyanka Patil and Deepti Sharma too. Litchfield, who was in stunning form in the ODIs, then disdainfully hit Amanjot for consecutive sixes.
But with the partnership growing dangerous, Amanjot struck back with a slower ball that Litchfield lifted to mid-off, falling one short of yet-another fifty on this tour.
Amanjot triggers another collapse
When Perry hit another six – and with Grace Harris at the other end – it looked like Australia wouldn’t be slowed down, making the most of their batting depth, but Patil trapped Harris lbw next ball as she missed a reverse sweep.
Just seven runs came off the next two overs before Sadhu returned. Annabel Sutherland lofted her for a six – the only boundary she conceded – before Sadhu got her revenge by having Sutherland caught at mid-off. Sadhu became the youngest Indian to pick a four-wicket haul in T20Is and it also made it four catches for Harmanpreet.
Deepti then got Perry to hole out to long-on and trapped Megan Schutt lbw in a two-wicket over. Patil wrapped up the Australia innings with the tenth wicket to leave India chasing 142. Australia lose their last four wickets for six runs.
more to follow…
Abhimanyu Bose is a sub-editor with ESPNcricinfo
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