Australia vs India, 2nd Women’s T20I: McGrath steers Australia win series

Tahlia McGrath's unbeaten 42 off 33 balls helped Australia claim a four-wicket win against India in the second Women’s T20I on the Gold Coast. Australia have won the multi-format series with the triumph. Australia have now taken an unassailable 9-5 lead.

Despite scoring just 118/9, India staged a spirited performance to keep Australian batters in check. Shikha Pandey cleaned up Alyssa Healy in the opening over with one that jagged back by the proverbial mile. Meg Lanning made 15, but took 20 balls to reach there before she nicked Rajeshwari Gayakwad (3-21) to Richa Ghosh.

Beth Mooney showed composure, scoring 36-ball 34 to rescue Australia from 46/4 after Ashleigh Gardner (1) and Ellyse Perry (2) departed cheaply to Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma respectively. McGrath held the fort after Mooney’s departure, and almost single-handedly took the game away from India. Nicola Carey (7) and Georgia Wareham (10*) chipped in with handy contributions to help Australia reach the target with five balls to spare.

Earlier in the evening, Tayla Vlaeminck did the initial damage, dismissing Smriti Mandhana (1) and Shafali Verma (3) in successive overs after Lanning won the toss and asked India to bat. Jemimah Rodrigues, who scored an unbeaten 49 in the first T20I before rain’s arrival, did not last long either.

Kaur (28 in 20 balls) tried to counterattack to revive India from 24/3, but her brisk innings came to an end in the ninth over, bowled by Wareham. India were left reeling at 81/9 in 17 overs before Pooja Vastrakar’s unbeaten 26-ball 37, laced with two sixes and three fours, took India to a respective total.

The two teams will meet for the one last time on this tour on Sunday, 10th October, at the same venue.

Brief scores: India Women 118/9 in 20 overs (Pooja Vastrakar 37*; Sophie Molineux 2-11) lost to Australia Women 119/6 in 19.1 overs by 4 wickets and 5 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Tahlia McGrath.