Harmanpreet Kaur's India bounced back to pull off a thrilling victory over mighty Australia in the second T20I which ended in a nail-biting super over on Sunday (December 11) . Harmanpreet's deputy Smriti Mandhana struck a quickfire 79 off 49 to weave a whirlwind 76-run opening wicket stand with Shafali Verma (34 off 23) while chasing a challenging 188-run target. But it was Richa Ghosh's blitzkrieg which made the difference with her 13-ball 26 in which she smoked three stunning sixes and helped India to level the score and force the match to Super Over.

India needed 14 off the last over bowled by Megan Schutt and Devika Vaidya managed to find two fours to reach 187 for 5 and tie the game, forcing the game into the Super Over. The home team put on 20 runs in the super over bowled by Heather Graham, thanks to a six and four from Mandhana after Richa Ghosh smashed the first ball for a maximum.
 

Meanwhile, skipper Harmanpreet was effusive in praising Richa and lauded the star batter's powerhitting which was on display for the world to see her star work.

“We kept backing ourselves. We learnt a lot from the previous game. If someone could get a bit more, then we could have got even 200. So that was the plan today, to back ourselves. (On Richa Ghosh) I was always backing her, even when she wasn't getting runs. Today we saw what we could do with her power hitting. Fielding is something we need to keep working at, we gave too many runs today. Bowling was better today, because this wicket was too easy to bat on, nothing for the bowlers. Fielding is the only thing we need to improve from today,” Harmanpreet said after the match.

Renuka Thakur was able to defend that total under extreme pressure after getting rid of Alyssa Healy, handing Australia their first loss of the year.

The thrilling finish meant Indian women finally ended up on the right side of the result in a tense finish. It was also the first time that India featured in a game that was stretched to the super over. With India's win, The five-match series is levelled 1-1.
 

Meanwhile, Australia Captain Alyssa Healy, who scored 25 off 15, said, “Missed a bit with the ball tonight and they cashed in. What a great advertisement for women's cricket this has been, with 40,000 people here tonight. I think we missed a bit with the ball, gave them a chase. We did well to hang in there in the end and get it to the Super Over, India were all over us in that chase. We fought well to get us to that position, fought till the very end.”

For Australia Tahlia McGrath (70 not out off 51) and Beth Mooney (82 not out off 54) tore into the Indian bowling attack with their belligerent knocks to power Australia 187/1 after the visitors were asked to bat.