In their Women’s World Cup group encounter on Sunday in Visakhapatnam, Australia defeated India by three wickets thanks to a record chase of 331, anchored by captain Alyssa Healy’s brilliant 142.
After Australia chose to bowl, India amassed 330 runs, and vice-captain Smriti Mandhana became the first player in women’s ODI cricket to reach 1,000 runs in a single year.
Healy set the tone with her sixth career century and first as captain, hitting the milestone off 84 balls in pursuit of the highest mark ever successfully pursued in women’s ODI history. Additionally, it was her first ODI century since 2022.
Sneh Rana gave India hope at 276/5 with a spectacular one-handed catch diving forward at backward point, capping Healy’s incredible innings at 142 off 107 balls (21x4s, 3x6s).
But veteran all-rounder Ellyse Perry, who had pulled out at the end of the 24th over and had earlier retired due to injury, came back to lead her team home with an undefeated 47 (52 ball; 5x4s, 1×6).
Australia finished the chase in 49 overs with one over to spare.
India was asked to bat first, and on a wicket that offered minimal support for the Australian bowlers, openers Mandhana (80, 66 balls) and Pratika Rawal (75, 96b) gave them good service.
Mandhana and Rawal’s 155-run opening partnership in just 24.3 overs served as the impetus for India’s batting assault and made up for their prior individual and combined defeats against South Africa, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka in the ICC tournament.
They were also helped by a surface that played much more smoothly than it did in the match against South Africa. Mandhana reached her fifty in 46 balls, while Rawal did the same a little later off 69 balls.
In addition, 29-year-old Mandhana reached 5,000 runs in WODIs during her innings, making her the youngest and fastest player to accomplish the record. It took her 112 games to reach the milestone.
In addition, Mandhana and Rawal tied the record of seven stands between Purnima Raut Mithali Raj (34 innings) for India with their sixth 100-run partnership in 21 innings.
However, when attempting to play a slog sweep, Mandhana was sent off against the flow of play after making a straightforward catch to Phoebe Litchfield in the deep off Molineux.
Australia’s quick comeback was made possible by Mandhana’s dismissal, which was followed by the wickets of Rawal, Harmanpreet Kaur, and Harleen Deol.
When they should have batted a little more wisely, those Indian batters were also guilty of playing quite careless shots to give the opposition their wickets.
In the 38th over, India found themselves at 240 for four and in danger of losing the momentum they had gained thus far.
But Richa Ghosh and Jemimah Rodrigues stitched a 54-run stand for the fifth wicket to take India closer to the 300-run mark before Ghosh holed out in the deep off pacer Annabel Sutherland (5/40), who was easily the pick of the Australian bowlers.
With both spinners and pacers struggling under the lights, India focused on maximising their scoring in the final 10 overs, adding 90 runs but losing their remaining six wickets in the process.
