Sadhu 4-fer paves way for India's comfortable win

A four-wicket haul from Titas Sadhu and a century opening stand between Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma gave India a thumping nine-wicket win over Australia in the opening T20I.

It was only India's seventh ever victory against Australia in Women's T20Is but it was as comprehensive as they come. And having come after the heartbreak of the ODI series sweep by Australia, the victory must have tasted sweet for Harmanpreet Kaur and Co.

Match in a nutshell

Opting to bowl first, about which Alyssa Healy was 'not too fussed' at the toss, India had Australia on the mat at 141 all-out with four balls to go in the innings. And like it so happens, the pitch settled down nicely in the second half, allowing India to get off the blocks in no time and chase the middling target with 2.2 overs to spare.

The Sadhu magic

She's only 19 but her bowling on a pleasant evening in Navi Mumbai belied her age. Getting the ball to wobble off the pitch, the right-arm pacer came on to bowl in the fourth over and immediately made a mark with the wicket of Beth Mooney by getting her caught on the edge of the circle. She struck twice in her next over, getting rid of Tahlia McGrath (caught at third man) and Ashleigh Gardner (caught and bowled) in the space of three deliveries. She would return later to bowl the 18th over, when she picked the wicket of Annabel Sutherland and finished with figures of 4 for 17.

Australia just couldn't find a way...

When Ellyse Perry and Phoebe Litchfield added 79 off 52 for the fifth wicket, it was the only time Australia looked on top, notwithstanding India's sloppy fielding. But that's when other bowlers stood up for India. Amanjot Kaur had Litchfield caught at mid-off and opened the gates for India again. Shreyanka Patil got rid of Grace Harris before Deepti Sharma's double strike all but ended the innings for Australia.

"Losing wickets right throughout kind of cost us little bit and we couldn't get any momentum because of that," Healy reckoned at the post-match presentations.

Openers tee away

Same pitch? The sticky nature of the surface gave way to pristine batting conditions in the second half, which Verma and Mandhana used to full effect. Agreed that Darcie Brown's leg-stump lines in the opening over set the wrong tone for the rest of the innings but Australia just couldn't find the right length on the pitch. Verma hit Megan Schutt for three boundaries in a short opening burst, the batter playing the aggressor in the first six overs. But nothing summed up Australia's day quite like the 12th over bowled by Tahlia McGrath, who conceded a total of 24 runs, dishing out an assortment of hittable lines, lengths and wides. That Shafali got to her 8th T20I fifty in the same over didn't help matters.

Century stand broken but...

...India win. The openers looked set to get India across the line but their 137-run association was broken when Wareham had Mandhana caught at long-on after a run-a-ball fifty. Shafali stayed put till the end, finishing with 64* off 44 balls (6 fours, 3 sixes) but it was Jemimah Rodrigues, who walked in at No.3, who finished the chase with a patent sweep.

Brief Scores: Australia 141 in 19.2 overs (Litchfield 49; Sadhu 4-17) lost to India 145/1 in 17.4 overs (Shafali 64, Mandhana 54) by 9 wickets*