Mackay, Aug 10: Poor execution with the bat undid India A’s superb bowling performance as Australia A made a clean sweep of three-match unofficial Women’s T20 series, defeating the visitors by four runs in a thrilling match here on Sunday.
Chasing a gettable 144/8 set by the hosts, India’s middle and lower-order batters failed miserably to be restricted to 140/8 after leg spinner Prema Rawat and left-armer Radha Yadav gave their team the best chance in the series by grabbing three wickets apiece.
This was Rawat’s second three-wicket haul in the multi-format series and it prepared the platform for the batters, led by Shafali Verma, to make a match of it.
Shafali finally fired after successive single-digit scores in the previous two games at the same venue but her 41-run contribution (25 balls) was not good enough on the day as she perished to young Brisbane Heat pacer Sianna Ginger, who emerged the wrecker-in-chief for the home team by taking four wickets for just 18 runs.
India shuffled its top order a bit by sending Dinesh Vrinda to open with Shafali, instead of keeper-batter Uma Chetry, who came in at one-down.
However, the experiment failed as Vrinda perished for just four runs and Chetry followed her back into the dressing room soon after as India A were reduced to 16/2.
Shafali and Raghvi Bist (25) forged a 43-run stand for the third wicket before the former departed, bringing in India A’s spin-bowling all-rounder Minnu Mani at the crease. The 48-run stand between Bist and Mani saw India A get past the 100-run mark, raising hopes of a consolation win.
But those hopes were dashed when the Bist was also consumed by Ginger, leaving the visitors at 107/4.
Her dismissal, it seemed, took the fight out of the India A side as it lost wickets in a heap, with the likes of national team stalwart Radha Yadav (12), Tanuj Kanwar (1), all-rounder Sajeevan Sajana (3) going in quick succession as the visitors lost the plot in the last over, when they had to score 15 runs. (PTI)
