Smriti Mandhana, Pooja Vastrakar star as India A team beat Australia A in first T20

Smriti Mandhana (72 off 40) laid the foundation and Pooja Vastrakar (21 off 9) finished with a flourish as a strong India A team beat Australia A by four wickets in the first T20 in Mumbai on Monday, 22 October 2018. After being reduced to 4/2 and then 143/6, the chase was not without its nervous moments even but the hosts reached the target with an over to spare.

Ahead of the ICC Women’s World T20 next month, India had named a their first-choice squad for the three-match series and this was good match practice for Harmanpreet Kaur and Co as Australia A, with their Women’s Big Bash League experience, put on a strong performance.

Electing to bat first, they put on 160/6 in 20 overs with Heather Graham top scoring with 43 off 30 balls. But it was creditable performance from Indian bowlers who pulled back after the visitors had raced to 48 for no loss in five overs.

Talia McGrath (31 off 23) was the first wicket to fall with Deepti Sharma breaking the opening partnership with spin. Naomi Stalenberg (39 off 28) was also on course for a big total before being caught and bowled by Anuja Patil. She was the pick of India’s bowling finishing with figures of 2 for 22.

After the initial rush of boundaries, India’s fielding was much sharper as well with many runs saved on the outfield by the energetic India A.

In response, India A started off the back foot with two wickets falling in the very first over. Jemimah Rodrigues and Taniya Bhatia were bowled off successive deliveries by Lauren Cheatle, leaving the hosts reeling at 4/2.

But the cartwheeling stumps turned out to India’s advantage as it brought captain Harmanpreet to crease and thus began the partnership of the match. Mandhana and Harmanpreet put together a stand of 116 runs, treating the paltry crowd to a shot fest.

Opener Mandhana looked in sublime touch as she hit boundaries with ease as the captain provided the perfect foil. India’s fifty came up in the sixth over as they raced to 66/2 in the Powerplay. Mandhana’s half-century came up off only 22 balls in the next over and she promptly scored another six to take the run rate to almost 12.

Harmanpreet, who was batting on a sedate 16 off 18, then decided to free her arms... lofting a classic, down-on-one-knee six that went beyond the fence. The Sam Bates over went for 18 runs as Harmanpreet’s blitz brought up India’s 100 in 9.5 overs.

At the halfway mark, India A were at a comfortable 104/2 with the captain and vice-captain going strong. But Mandhana fell in the 13th over as her shot didn’t get the distance and went straight to fielder and her dismissal triggered a mini collapse as the momentum came to a halt.

The hosts could manage only five runs in the next two overs which forced Harmanpreet to take a risk and she ended up giving away an easy catch. Patil (5 off 13) and Dayalan Hemlata (1 off 2) fell in successive overs as the equation titled in Australia A’s favour. Veteran Mithali Raj didn’t come out to bat after leaving the field early during Australia’s innings and the task of reorganising the chase was left to the young guns in the team.

But youngsters Vastrakar and Deepti Sharma held their nerves under pressure to steer the team to victory. First a plucky boundary played behind by Sharma and then a confident down-the-track six by Vastrakar brought the game back in balance. All-rounder Vastrakar was especially impressive as she played a match-winning cameo with two fours and a six, fittingly sealing the win with a boundary off the last ball of the 19th over.

With two more T20s to go, coach Ramesh Powar will hope to give all members of the squad a go against the high-quality Australia A squad. He was seen in the nets soon after the match, with the bowlers who didn’t get a chance in Monday’s match. The batters who missed out will also look to get some time on crease under their belt in what is their last series before the warm-up games in West Indies.

The next match of the series will be on Wednesday.