India’s fielding woes were on full display as they dropped four catches, while fine half-centuries from Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, and Annabel Sutherland guided Australia Women to a dominant eight-wicket win in the first ODI at Mullanpur on Sunday.
Australia finished the chase in 44.1 overs after India, who batted first, scored 281/7.
Litchfield (88 off 80 balls) was dropped twice, while Mooney (77* off 74) and Ellyse Perry (30, retired hurt) each got a second chance, as Australia seized a 1-0 lead in the three-match series ahead of the upcoming ODI World Cup.
Mooney and Sutherland (54 not out off 51) contributed 116 runs for the third wicket while they were in the middle.
While Sutherland had six hits to the fence, Mooney, who was dropped by Deepti Sharma at 56, smashed nine fours in her knock.
India used their spin battery to set the visitors a 282-run target in the first half of the match, but their fielders failed to deliver when opportunities were created.
In order to create the stage for Australia’s victorious run chase, Litchfield took advantage of three lifelines to score 88 runs with 14 fours, interspersed with breathtaking strokes throughout the pitch.
But Litchfield owed the Indians that, since Jemimah Rodrigues gave her a lifeline as early as the second over, when the Australian had not yet opened her account and spilled a sitter at midwicket off Sneh Rana.
When India captain Harmanpreet Kaur missed another simple opportunity at cover off Radha Yadav in the 19th over, Litchfield was given another lifeline at 56.
Perry was given a reprieve in the 17th over when Pratika Rawal, who was coming in from deep midwicket, was unable to hold onto a skier that was hit high off a full ball from Radha.
The lost catches and the sporadic misfields hindered the Indians’ efforts to exert pressure on the Australians in the field.
Litchfield was a staunch supporter of the reverse-sweep shot and performed most of them with skill.
When substitute fielder Arundhati Reddy took a top edge off Rana in the 27th over, one of them even went soaring for a boundary over the cover zone, but her over-reliance on the stroke resulted in her dismissal.
The two Australians put up 79 runs for the second wicket, but their flourish was cut short when Litchfield was dismissed after Perry returned to the dressing room due to a calf issue that made it difficult for her to run comfortably between wickets.
While Litchfield’s removal had no effect on Australia’s surge as they won the game handily, Perry’s departure pushed Mooney to the crease.
Prior to this, India Women’s reached a competitive total thanks to half-centuries from Pratika Rawal (64), Smriti Mandhana (58), and Harleen Deol (54).
Even though the middle order players did not get going, India’s top order batters served them well, each hitting their stride to contribute significantly.
In their match against Australia, Rawal and Mandhana put up 114 for the first wicket, which is currently the third-highest for India, demonstrating why they have been a formidable team.
With the ODI World Cup just two weeks away, Australia, on the other hand, employed up to eight bowling options to get their players up and running in Indian conditions.
