SYDNEY (Australia): Leg-spinner Poonam Yadav bowled India to an upset 17-run win over defending champions Australia in the opening game of women’s Twenty20 World Cup on Friday.
The defending champions looked to be cruising in their chase of 133 but four wickets for six runs from Yadav saw the game flip on its head at the Sydney Showground.
Alyssa Healy had returned to form with a timely 51 but her teammates struggled around her, Ashleigh Gardner (34) the only other batter into double figures.
Shafali Verma’s opening burst had set India on their way with the bat while Deepti Sharma’s career-best 49 not out steered them to 132 for four, a total that eventually proved defendable.
Healy failed to reach double figures in her previous six innings but started positively at the Showground, a plethora of boundaries lighting up her innings.
The openers put 32 on for the first wicket but Beth Mooney fell for six at the end of the Powerplay, caught at backward point off Shikha Pandey (three for 14), while captain Meg Lanning was caught behind off Rajeshwari Gayakwad.
A full toss thumped over deep midwicket took Healy to 50 but the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2018 top-scorer fell next ball when offering a return catch for Yadav’s first wicket.
The spinner has the most wickets for India in women’s T20Is and showed exactly why in her next over, deceiving Rachael Haynes with a googly to be stumped by Tanya Bhatia. (Source: ICC-Media)
Brief Scores: India 132-4, 20 overs (Deepti Sharma 49 not out, Shafali Verma 29; Jess Jonassen 2-24) beat Australia 115 all out, 19.5 overs (Alyssa Healy 51; Poonam Yadav 4-19, Shikha Pandey 3-14).
