It was the kind of game where even after more than seven hours of play, all boiled down to final ball to decide the winner. In the end, it was the Australian team that showed immense levels of composure to seal the win and continue their unbeaten run of 26 ODIs. The narrow win by five wickets helped hosts take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-ODI series.
The long last over
The experienced campaigner and the leading wicket-taker in the format, Jhulan Goswami was trusted with the task of defending 13 runs in the last over against well-settled batters Beth Mooney and Nicola Carey. Mithali Raj closed the field on the off-side with most of the fielders inside the 30-yard circle and on the leg side, fielders were patrolling the boundary. The Indian side showed inexperience in the crunch situation as young wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh gave an extra run trying to run out Carey when she was comfortably in the crease completing a couple of runs.
While Indian fielders were not fast enough to get to the ball and throw it accurately at the stumps, Goswami struggled to grip the ball and bowled a beamer while trying to land the perfect yorker. The beamer hit Carey straight on the helmet and cost India extra runs. With three runs needed off the final delivery, Goswami bowled another high full toss that found the fielder at the square leg. India were already celebrating their two-run win believing that they had put an end to Australia’s unbeaten run. However, the replay on the big screen showed that the game was not finished yet.
The umpire signalled no ball. The no ball call can be debated as Carey was crouching and the ball was dipping on her. Nevertheless, it was a no ball and since the batters had not crossed, they needed two runs off the final delivery to win the match. For the final delivery, Goswami should not be blamed as Indian fielders seemed too tired to produce a run out and take the game into super over. In the end, Mooney was quick to complete two runs to deny India a win to draw the series despite batting for over three hours.
Missed chances
India should have clearly nipped this in the bud and won the match by a comfortable margin after reducing the hosts to 52 for four wickets in the massive run chase. In the 33rd over, Goswami dropped an easy catch of Tahlia McGrath. The Australian all-rounder was batting on 57 at that point and Australia were just beginning to accelerate and play catch-up with the required run rate. In the 45th over, the 17-year-old Ghosh missed a simple stumping chance to get rid of Nicola who was way out of the crease. The Aussie was batting on 24 at that point. A wicket here would have put more pressure on Mooney as she would have to do the bulk of scoring.
In the 47th over of the runchase, the boundaries had dried up and Deepti Sharma failed to collect the ball cleanly and gave Carey another chance. In the penultimate over, Jemimah Rodrigues at deep mid-wicket misjudged the trajectory of the ball and missed a chance to dismiss the Aussie opener. The on-field umpiring in the game was not top-notch either. In the same over as the run out chance, Rajeshwari Gayakwad trapped Carey in front of the wickets but the umpire ruled in favour of the hosts and denied India a much-needed wicket.
Mooney, McGrath revive run chase
It was an uphill task for the two batsmen after a terrible start to the run chase of 275. The dropped catches and missed run out chances helped the duo but they paced their innings well and picked out bowlers to attack. When the boundaries were hard to come by, they used the big boundaries and ran hard between the wickets to put pressure on the fielders. They shared a 126-run partnership for the fifth wicket to bring Australia back in the game. While McGrath got out after scoring 77 runs from 79 deliveries, Mooney went on to score her second ODI century. She scored an unbeaten 125 off 133 deliveries including 12 boundaries. In the end, she had support from Carey as well. The bowling all-rounder attacked and scored unbeaten 39 runs with a strike rate just over 100 including two boundaries.
Mandhana back in form
Smriti Mandhana missed her century but laid the foundation that helped India post a big total. Mandhana got India off to a flier with 74-run partnership for the first wicket with Shafali Verma. The runs kept coming off Mandhana’s bat despite the wickets of skipper Mithali Raj and Yastika Bhatia for respective single-digit scores. Mandhana scored 86 runs from 94 deliveries including 11 boundaries.
Playing her second ODI, Ghosh impressed with her hard-hitting skills. She hit the only six of the match during her 44-run knock. Cameos from Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar and Goswami too helped India post a challenging total on the board. Goswami was the only batter in the Indian side who had a strike rate over 100 with her 25-ball 28 including three boundaries.
