In a cagey contest at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Sunday evening, Australia secured a 6-wicket win over India in the second T20I to level the three-match series 1-1. The visitors restricted India to 130 for 8 after electing to field before overhauling the total with one over to spare.

Following India’s complete dominance in the first T20I, Australia admitted to ‘debriefing’ and coming up with better plans for the conditions in the second contest. It started with Kim Garth dismissing Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues early. The movement on offer helped the Australian pacers.

Even through the middle overs, there weren’t easy runs on offer for the Indians as Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur struggled to get going. Annabel Sutherland and Georgia Wareham in specific were economical. Deepti Sharma was forced to push the accelerator with more aggressive play, and in company of Richa Ghosh added 33 runs in only 18 balls, before the latter fell. However, India’s attempt to continue the assault proved counter-productive as they kept losing wickets in quick succession, with Wareham and Sutherland bagging a brace each.

Shreyanka Patil also attempted to be unorthodox with her strokeplay but were eventually restricted to 130 for 8.

After a cautious start, Alyssa Healy cut loose against Titas Sadhu, cracking a couple of boundaries in the second over. She continued the assault against Shreyanka as well. Five wides by Renuka Thakur also helped Australia’s case as they piled on 47 runs in the powerplay.

Deepti struck twice in her first seven deliveries, getting Healy to inside edge the ball on to her stumps and having Beth Mooney stumped with a flighted delivery. Just when India was looking to control the scoring rate, Tahlia McGrath and Perry went on the offensive against Amanjot Kaur, smashing four boundaries in the two overs by the medium pacer. The former eventually fell while attempting to reverse sweep against Shreyanka only to glove it to the ‘keeper, and two overs later, Pooja Vastrakar had Ash Gardner caught behind with an outswinging delivery.

In what seemed like an opportunity for India to apply the pressure back on the visitors late in the contest was dusted courtesy the in-form Pheobe Litchfield unorthodox play. She brought out her range of strokes, and with Shreyanka failing to grip the ball, there were ample scoring opportunities. In the last ball of the 19th over, Perry, playing her 300th international match, tonked a slogsweep over the mid wicket fence for a six, to complete the run chase.

Brief Scores:
India 130/8 in 20 overs (Deepti Sharma 30, Richa Ghosh 23; Georgia Wareham 2-17, Annabel Sutherland 2-18) lost to Australia 133/4 in 19 overs (Ellyse Perry 34*, Alyssa Healy 26; Deepti Sharma 2-22) by 6 wickets.