An amazing spell of T20I bowling from Poonam Yadav leads India to a massive victory over the defending champions Australia at Sydney on Friday.
A master class spell of 4 for 19 including the wickets of Perry, Healy, Jonassen, etc from the veteran bowler made the life difficult for Aussies.
Lanning, on winning the toss opted to field on a cloudy day with a chance of showers later in the day.
It was a huge moment for Molly Strano as she got her maiden cap in a massive tournament like the World Cup.
Strano on debut had to start proceedings with the ball. She had a decent first over. On the other side, the Indian openers after a watchable first over they were on fire.
The young 16-year-old Shafali Varma looked in great touch hitting 4 boundaries in an over to the best bowler in the world Meghan Schutt. On the other side, Mandhana didn’t capitalize after a good start and a drop chance. She got out plumb trying to hit one out of the park in the bowling of Jonassen.
After a decent cameo, Varma trying to hit one shot many were dismissed miscuing a shot to the Mid-on fielder in the bowling of Perry. Following that the Indian team had a big shocker with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur getting stumped playing an unnecessary shot at a wrong junction of the game.
Later the duo of Jemimah and Deepti Sharma with their stand of 53 runs helped India to reach a reasonable score. Mainly Deepti Sharma with her unbeaten innings of 49* made India set a target of 133. India ended their inning at 133 for 4 in 20 overs.
With the ball, it was Jonassen who continued her good form and was well supported by Perry and others.
Chasing an average total of 133, Australia was off to a decent start with Healy starting in an aggressive fashion but on the other side, Mooney who is in great touch lost her wicket early. With the fall of her wicket started the fall down of Australian wickets.
All credits to the tremendous display of spin bowling from Indian bowlers especially Poonam Yadav who knocked out an experienced middle order of Australia including the big guns like Perry, Jonassen, and Haynes.
Poonam was well supported by senior pro-Pandey who picked up 3 wickets.
In the end, Ashleigh Gardener tried her best to take her team home but the efforts went in vain as she did not get any support from the other end.
In the end, Australia was bundled out at 115 for 10 in 19.5 overs. This is a great start to the Indians and will give them a huge boost of confidence for the rest of the tournament. Coming to Australians this is upset for sure and they will be eyeing for a strong comeback which they are known for from the years.
Brief Scores: India 132 for 4 in 20 overs ( Deepti 49*, Jemimah 26 and Jonassen 2 for 24) defeated Australia 115 for 10 in 19.5 overs ( Gardener 34 & Poonam 4 for 19) by 17 runs.
Match Winning Spell by India’s Poonam Yadav 😍 #WT20WC | #T20WorldCup | #AUSvIND | #PoonamYadav | #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/yBA0jYPt0k
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) February 21, 2020