Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney steer Australia to T20I series win in tense chase

Tahlia McGrath and Beth Mooney made their presence felt on Sunday, to help Australia Women pull off a 2-0 series triumph in the recently concluded three-match T20I series against India. Tahlia accumulated 44 runs off 31 deliveries in an innings comprising of six boundaries and a six. Beth smashed 61 runs from 43 balls with the knock including six fours. While the rest of the batters failed to make much of an impact, the contribution of the duo was enough to help Australia post a total of 149 runs for the loss of five wickets in 20 overs. Rajeshwari Gayakwad was the pick of the bowlers for India, chipping in with two dismissals.

Smriti Mandhana makes her presence felt yet again

Opener Smriti Mandhana made her presence felt during the chase of 150 runs, accumulating 52 runs off 49 deliveries. Her knock included eight boundaries. Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh both chipped in with 23 runs apiece from 26 and 11 balls respectively. However, there was limited support from other batters. Nicola Carey was the top wicket-taker for Australia, chipping in with two dismissals. India were eventually restricted to 135 runs for the loss of six wickets, resulting in a defeat by a margin of 14 runs.

“The result wasn’t in our favor but Pooja Vastrakar did really well throughout the tournament, Richa Ghosh took a lot of responsibility, we can take a lot of positives from this and we are on the right track. We have shown our performance day by day, whenever we get an opportunity, we need to prove ourselves and that’s what we did throughout this tour. Should thank the support staff for supporting us and whenever we needed them, they were there for us. I’m very excited [on playing the WBBL] and it is a great opportunity for us to grow as a team. If we can get those games before an international tournament, it will be very good for us,” said Harmanpreet Kaur.

“Wanted to test our players and this was the best opportunity”

Head coach Ramesh Powar was pleased despite the 2-0 T20I series defeat, stating that the team achieved the fast bowling goals it set out to achieve after the tour of UK.

“After coming back from the UK tour, we set some goals and I think those goals were achieved. I think we were looking at the seamers’ attack to support Jhulan, which we were struggling with in England. I think the way Meghna [Singh] bowled, the way Pooja Vastrakar bowled, the way Renuka [Singh] bowled, I think that was the objective – to find a pace battery that we can invest in and we can carry on with those players into the World Cup,” he said as quoted by Cricbuzz.

“We stand at a juncture where Mithali and Jhulan are going to fade away at some point. So getting England tour and Australia tour mainly for young cricketers like Renuka, Meghana…be it Jemimah, it makes a huge difference, because you will be tested against the best and you can show your skill here and you can go forward and build your career. We wanted to test our players and this was the best opportunity. The England, and mainly the Australia tour,” added Powar.