After a good start, India women saw a dip in the momentum as Australia registered a victory in the opening game of the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Australia defeat India by three wickets in first Group A match of women’s T20 event in marquee event.
India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur slammed 52 off 34 balls and opener Shafali Verma chipped in with a 33-ball 48 for India to make 154-8, Renuka’s magnificent opening burst took out Australia’s top four.
With Deepti Sharma (2-26) taking out Rachael Haynes, Australia were in deep trouble at 49-5 and needed 89 runs off the last ten overs.
But Ashleigh stitched stands of 51 with Grace Harris (37 off 20 balls) and 47 with Alana King (18 not out) to be unbeaten at 52 off 35 balls, hitting nine boundaries under pressure to take Australia to a cracking victory on cricket’s comeback in the multi-sport event.
They were also helped by the fact that apart from Renuka and Deepti, rest of the Indian bowling attack had an off day.
Asheligh scored 52 and remained unbeaten. While Grace Harris also contributed with her 37-run knock.
With this victory Australia jumped to top of the table in Group A.
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India will next face off, arch-rival Pakistan on July 31 but they slipped at the bottom spot in the points table.
Brief Scores: India 154/8 in 20 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 54, Shafali Verma 48; Jess Jonassen 4/22, Megan Schutt 2/26) lost to Australia 157/7 in 19 overs (Ashleigh Gardner 52 not out, Grace Harris 37; Renuka Thakur 4/18, Deepti Sharma 2/24) by three wickets
