India struggled in both the batting and bowling department as Australia notched a dominant nine-wicket win in the first One-day International on Tuesday to extend their record winning streak to 25 matches.
India managed 225/8 after being put in to bat, with the innings not getting any consistent momentum till the final few overs.
Skipper Mithali Raj (61 off 107) recorded her fifth consecutive fifty, which was also her 59th overall, while the other contributions came from debutants Yastika Bhatia (35 off 51), Richa Ghosh (32 not out off 29) and veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami (20 off 24) took India past 200.
Australia vs India first ODI, as it happened: Healy, Haynes, Lanning score fifties in dominant win
Australia gunned down the target in 41 overs with each of the top three batters scoring half-centuries. After a sedate start of 30 runs in eight overs, Australian openers Alyssa Healy (77 off 77) and Rachael Haynes (93 not out off 100) changed gears to run away with the game.
Healy was the aggressor in their 126-run stand with her dominating knock comprising eight fours and couple of sixes. She was eventually caught at mid off trying to hit another one out of the ground off leggie Poonam Yadav.
Haynes and skipper Meg Lanning (53 not out off 69) then shared a 101-run stand and took Australia home for a resounding win.
India, who are trying to finalise their team composition in what is one of the final preparatory series before the 2022 World Cup, fielded three debutants in keeper Ghosh, top-order bat Bhatia and pacer Meghna Singh. The call largely worked as three impressed in their first ODI with considerable contributions.
With senior batter Harmanpreet Kaur ruled out due to a thumb injury, the decision to pack the middle order with three all-rounders in Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma and Pooja Vastrakar, leaving out a specialist left-arm spinner, however had mixed dividends.
India now have a lot of thinking and planning to do ahead of the second ODI of the three-match series on Friday.
While Singh impressed with her ability to swing the ball and Goswami bowled a tidy spell as usual but India were never able to put Australia under pressure.
On the batting front, the visitors would not have crossed the 220-run mark if it wasn’t for the eight-wicket stand of 45 runs between Goswami and Ghosh, who was picked ahead of Taniya Bhatia to add the much needed firepower.
India openers Shafali Verma (8) and Smriti Mandhana (16), whom the team relies on heavily for brisk starts, perished in quick succession after hitting a few boundaries. Bhatia, at No 3, steadied the ship with Mithali Raj but the middle overs had little intent and brisk scoring, leaving too much to do in the later overs.
The Player of the Match was 18-year-old Darcie Brown, who was the standout bowler for Australia with 4/33 in her nine overs while debutant Hannah Darlington (2/29) and Sophie Molineux (2/39) also chipped in.
The next match is a day-night ODI on Friday.
With PTI Inputs
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