IND W vs AUS W: Australia complete hat-trick of T20I series wins in India

Australia women completed an incredible comeback after their humbling loss in the first T20I to complete a series victory against India in Navi Mumbai on Tuesday, January 9. Alyssa Healy's side rode on their captain's well-paced fifty and Beth Mooney's unbeaten 52 to successfully chase down 148 without breaking a sweat in the series decider at the DY Patil Stadium.

Australia completed the chase with 8 balls and 7 wickets to spare. India were restricted to 147 in their quota of 20 overs after they were sent into bat by skipper Alyssa Healy. The Navi Mumbai crowd turned up in large numbers for the third successive time in the 3-match series, cheering loudly for the home team, led by Harmanpreet Kaur but the hosts were not able to give the New Year's present to the passionate supporters.

Alyssa Healy won her first T20I series as Australia's full-time captain after taking over from Meg Lanning, who retired from international cricket in November 2023. The visitors lost the



series opener by 9 wickets in a one-sided contest but Healy marshaled her troops wonderfully well to end the tour with a series win.

India were not able to win the clutch moments in the series decider as the batting unit failed to fire as a collective unit. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur struggled to get going while young Jemimah Rodrigues suffered a rare failure as India failed to make use of the momentum that the two openers Shafali Verma (26 off 17) and Smriti Mandhana (29 off 28) gave the hosts at the start.

Richa Ghosh, the aggressive wicketkeeper-batter, tried to give the much-needed impetus to the Indian innings as she tore into the Australian attack after coming into bat at No. 5. She hit a 28-ball 34, including 3 sixes, one of which flew over 80m.

Richa continued to play fearless cricket, but India missed an opportunity to add to their tally as she was dismissed by a brilliant yorker from Ash Gardner in the first delivery of the final over.