Smriti Mandhana & Harmanpreet Kaur Hits Half-Centuries: Australia women’s cricket team has defeated Team India by 6 wickets in the first match of the 3-match ODI series. In this match played in Brisbane, the Indian team had set a target of 215 runs in 50 overs to win against Australia, thanks to the half-centuries of Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur. The Australian team achieved this target given by the Indian women’s team with the loss of 4 wickets with 70 balls remaining.
India had a bad start in the ODI series
Indian women’s team captain Harmanpreet Kaur had won the toss and decided to bat first, but India did not have a good start. Team India’s opener Pratika Raval had to return to the pavilion without opening her account. After that, by the time it reached 25 runs, the team also lost the second wicket in the form of Shefali Verma. Team India’s score had just crossed the threshold of 50 when the Australian team also dismissed Jemimah Rodriguez. These three big blows were suffered by the Indian team at the score of 52 runs in 11.2 overs.
Smriti Mandhana-Harmanpreet Kaur’s half century went in vain
Amidst falling wickets at one end of Team India, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana was standing at the other end. He hit some brilliant shots during this period. Smriti got good support from captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who came in the middle order. Together they played a partnership. Meanwhile, Smriti completed her half-century, but she could not convert her fifty into a big score. However, the Indian women’s team got the fourth blow on the score of 100 runs in the form of Smriti Mandhana, who scored 58 runs in 68 balls with the help of 7 fours. After his dismissal, Harmanpreet tried well to take the score board of the Indian team forward, but she did not get much support from Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh. The result was that the Indian team could not play even 50 overs. The entire Indian team was reduced to 214 runs in 48.3 overs. In this, captain Harmanpreet Kaur contributed 53 runs on 84 balls.
Australia takes lead in ODI series
Australian women’s team chased the target of 215 runs at the loss of 4 wickets in just 38.2 overs. While opening for Australia, its captain Alyssa Healy scored a brilliant half-century. Apart from her, Beth Mooney played a brilliant inning of 76 runs, for which she was chosen ‘Player of the Match’. After winning the first ODI, Australia has taken a 1-0 lead in the 3-match ODI series.
