Dominant India Women take 1-0 series lead after winning AUS-W vs IND-W 1st T20I

India Women started the Australia tour strongly with a dominant win in the rain-interrupted first game of the three-match Women's T20I series against the hosts Australia Women on Sunday (February 15) at Sydney.

After India Women chose to field first, they bowled out the hosts for only 133 runs in 18 overs. In reply, while India Women were 50/1 in 5.1 overs, the rain interrupted the game. While the game couldn't be restarted on time, India Women have taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match series after winning the opener by 21 runs in the DLS method. 

Arundhati Reddy dominated in Australian innings

Both the Aussie openers Beth Mooney (5) and Georgia Voll (18) were dismissed cheaply in the powerplay, and India Women continued their momentum by taking wickets at regular intervals. 

The Aussie batters failed to manage big scores, while the middle-order Georgia Wareham was the highest run-scorer with 30 runs in 19 balls with four fours. Phoebe Litchfield (26) and Ellyse Perry (20) were the other Aussie batters to manage the 20-run mark. As none of the Aussie batters managed a strong score, the hosts failed to manage a challenging first innings total.

The right-arm pacer Arundhati Reddy got four wickets in the match, as she won the Player of the Match award for managing the bowling figures of 4-0-22-4. Also, Renuka Singh (4-1-14-2) and Shree Charani (3-0-14-2) got two wickets in the match. 

Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues provided powerful starts

In reply, the Indian openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma had a 33-run partnership for the first wicket, where Verma slammed 21 off 11 balls with one four and two sixes. While rain interrupted the game, Smriti scored 16 not out off 17 balls with two fours, while Jemimah Rodrigues scored nine not out off three balls with two fours.