Chandigarh: The Indian women’s cricket team is riding a golden wave. After their historic Women’s ODI World Cup win, Harmanpreet Kaur’s side continues to make huge strides in international cricket. On Saturday, the Indian women’s cricket team wrote another memorable chapter on Australian soil.
With belief and intent, India registered a 17-run win in the third T20I at Adelaide Oval to wrap up the three-match series and take a 4-2 lead in the multi-format contest. The victory not only underscored India’s growing stature in the shorter format, but marked only their second victory in a bilateral T20I series in Australia, after a decade. The last one came in 2016 under the leadership of Mithali Raj.
Having recently swept Sri Lanka 5-0 at home following their success in the ODI World Cup in November, India outplayed Australia in their own backyard, leaving their fans awestruck. This was Australia’s first double defeat at home since 2017.
Smriti Mandhana (82 off 55 balls) laid the foundation for the victory with a brilliant 121-run partnership with Jemima Rodriguez (59 off 46). The duo stabilized the innings after dismissing Shafali Verma for seven runs in the third over, then launched a calculated attack on the Australian bowling. Smriti was in fine touch, scoring eight fours and three sixes. Jemima completed it by playing the stroke fluently, finding the fence four times.
Smriti fell in the 17th over and the score was 140, with Ash Gardner catching the ball at mid-off after sledding a slow delivery from Annabelle Sutherland. However, India pressed the accelerator, promoting Richa Ghosh ahead of Harmanpreet. Richa’s 18 off seven balls provided the late flourish India needed to post a competitive 176/6.
Australia had a tough task ahead of them when the run chase began. They never chased a higher goal. Their best was a chase of 173 runs in a nine-wicket win over India in Mumbai in December 2022.
Australia’s chase never gained momentum against India’s disciplined bowling attack. Shreyanka Patel struck twice in the Powerplay to remove Georgia Fall and Ellyse Perry, while Renuka Thakur dismissed Beth Mooney, reducing the home side’s score to 32/2 and tipping the balance in India’s favor in the Powerplay. 26-year-old Phoebe Litchfield, equipped with her trademark reverse leg, briefly kept the home team afloat, but a breakthrough left-arm spinner by Shri Charani left Australia reeling at 63/4.
Ashleigh Gardner battled valiantly through the top score with 57 (45b, 5×4, 1×6), briefly reviving hopes, but Rodriguez’s sharp catch at deep midwicket off Charani’s bowling ended the resistance. Grace Harris was hit off the second ball of the wicket, summing up Australia’s frustrating evening as they were restricted to 159/9. Arundhati Reddy got 2/35.
Smriti, who was named player of the match, said: “It feels great to contribute to a back-to-back win. Beating Australia in Australia is really special. Jimmy’s quick boundaries when she came on reassured me and helped build the partnership.”
Harman credited the win to a team effort. “It was a complete team performance. Everyone was positive. Smriti and Jimmy played a big role. The bowling plans were very simple. It was just about taking wickets. The bowlers did a great job for us,” she said.
Australia captain Sophie Molyneux said: “We actually thought we held on very well. It was a very good wicket. We just lost some very important wickets at the wrong time.”
India won the first T20I in Sydney by 21 runs under the DLS rain rule while Australia won the second T20I in Canberra by 19 runs.
India will now shift their focus to the upcoming three-match ODI series, starting on Tuesday with the first match in Brisbane, hoping to continue the momentum.
Abbreviated degrees: India 176/6 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 82, Jemima Rodrigues 59; Annabelle Sutherland 2/34); Australia 159/9 (Ashley Gardner 57, Phoebe Litchfield 26, Shreyanka Patel 3/22, Shree Sharani 3/32). India won by 17 runs.
