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Australia’s ace all-rounder Ellyse Perry in her 300th T20I guided the visitors home with an unbeaten 21-ball 34 in the run chase to level the three-T20I series 1-1. Alyssa Healy-led Australia won the match with six wickets in hand and six balls to spare.
Earlier, Healy won the toss and opted to field first. Half-centurion of the previous game, Shafali Verma was dismissed lbw by Kim Garth. Jemimah Rodrigues hit three boundaries before becoming Garth's second victim with the new ball. After the powerplay overs, India were 33/2. Healy introduced Annabel Sutherland in the eighth over. She got the wicket of Smriti Mandhana. The opener scored 23 runs from 26 balls including two fours and a six. At the halfway stage, India were 54/3.
Harmanpreet's rough patch continued. She went for the sweep against Ashleigh Gardner but then found the fielder in the deep. She managed to score just six runs from 12 balls. Deepti hit a couple of boundaries and Richa Ghosh hit a maximum off the last ball of the innings. Ghosh was dismissed lbw by Georgia Wareham's slower ball in the 15th over. She scored 23 runs from 19 balls. Wareham finished her economical spell with the wicket of Pooja Vastrakar in the 17th over. Then Sutherland got Amanjot Kaur's wicket in her final over. In the last two overs, Deepti hit three boundaries to complete 1,000 runs in the format. She was run out of the final ball. Her 27-ball 30 helped India post 130/8.
Healy and Beth Mooney got Australia off to an ideal start in the run chase. Healy used the fielding restrictions well to find boundaries whereas Mooney took her time to settle. They had 47 runs on the board after six overs. In the eighth over, Deepti got the breakthrough with her first ball. Healy scored 26 runs from 21 balls. In her next over, she got Mooney stumped. She scored 20 runs from 29 balls. At the halfway stage, Australia were 59/2. Tahlia McGrath and Perry got the run chase back on track. Shreyanka Patil broke the partnership with McGrath's wicket as he mistimed the reverse sweep. She scored 19 runs from 21 balls.
Introduced in the 16th over, Vastrakar got the wicket of Gardner. Perry went down the track against Deepti and hit her four a maximum. She conceded 13 runs from the over. Vastrakar followed it up with an economical over. Australia needed 15 runs off the last two overs. Litchfield smashed two fours in the first three balls against Patil. Perry finished the run chase off the last ball of the 19th over with a maximum. She scored 34 runs from 21 balls. On the other end, Litchfield contributed with a 12-ball 18. Patil turned out to be the most expensive bowler conceding 40 runs from her quota of four overs.
The decider of the T20I series will be played on January 9 at the same venue.
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