Australia Women hammer hosts India by 54 runs in 5th T20I, claim series 4-1; Full List of Award Winners

Mumbai, Dec 20: The defending T20 champions Australia women showcase their supremacy in the format as they defeated India 4-1 in the five-match series.

In the fifth and final T20I of the series, in the absence of regular skipper, Alyssa Healy, Tahlia McGrath lead the side but the team hardly missed the former. The visitors outplayed the hosts in all three departments and won the game by a huge 54-run margin at the Brabourne Stadium on Tuesday (December 20).

Indian Women sink in 5th T20I

The Women in Blue were chasing a daunting 197-run target with the hopes of getting a consolation win but the batters failed to put up a collective effort. The Southern Stars, thus, bundled the hosts out for 147 in the stipulated 20 overs.

Indians lost their tenth wicket of the innings on the final ball of the innings as Deepti Sharma became Heather Graham's fourth victim of the evening. Graham returned with figures of 4 for 8 from her four overs.

For India, all-rounder Deepti (53 and 1/46) was the top performer in the game but she alone couldn't help her team win and didn't get much support from the senior players at the other end.

Captain Harmanpreet Kaur (12) and her deputy Smriti Mandhana (4) failed to live up to their reputations in the big run chase. The rest of the batters in the middle - who lack experience - perished against a quality bowling effort from the Aussies.

Player of the Match and Series - Ashleigh Gardner

Ashleigh Gardner - who scored a sensational 32-ball 64* and later picked up a couple of wickets from her full quota of 4 overs - was awarded player of the match. The 25-year-old spin-bowling all-rounder from New South Wales was also adjudged the player of the series for her exploits in all the games.

After bagging the awards, Gardner said, "I'm just enjoying my cricket, and reaping the benefits on the field. It's really easy batting with someone like Grace, takes the pressure off me. She is the bigger hitter, she talks a lot but she backs that up. I think it depends on the day, some days I'm more of a bowler, and sometimes I'm more of a batter. On days like today, you end up doing both. Range hitting is fantastic sometimes, but I try not to do it too much because I end up losing my shape sometimes."

Indian skipper reflected on the missed chances in the game and also spoke about the learnings her team will get after this series.

Plenty of lessons for India, says Harmanpreet

"We've been really good for the first 10-12 overs. But after that, we haven't been able to bowl the way we wanted because of the power they have. We knew the challenges we would have with Australia coming over, lots to improve and some good learnings. In the beginning, we were easily losing but now whoever goes out we are confident of winning. That self-belief has been really important. We now have one month off, time to rest and regroup. The next challenge will be to focus on power hitting," Kaur said at the post-match presentation.

Winning Captain beaming with pride

"It's always a great battle with India. Ash (Gardner) and Grace (Harris) put out a real clinic today, it was fun to watch. We pride ourselves on our fearless cricket. India came hard, they threw a lot at us. Enjoyed the grounds, we always get looked after very well here," the stand-in Aussie captain McGrath said.

How the game panned out for Aussies

Earlier in the day, Gardner and Grace Harris struck unbeaten brisk half-centuries to power Australia to an imposing 196 for four. The Indian bowlers cut a sorry figure after initial success as Gardner and Harris stitched an attacking unbeaten 129 off just 62 balls to fire Australia to their highest total of the series.

Gardner remained unbeaten on 66 off 32 balls with the help of 11 boundaries and one six, while Harris made 64 not out of 35 balls during which she struck six fours and four hits over the fence.

Bright start for hosts

Electing to bowl, India started brightly, dismissing Beth Mooney (2) and Phoebe Litchfield (11) cheaply inside four overs. Thereafter, skipper McGrath (26 off 26) and Ellyse Perry (18 of 14) shared 38 runs for the third wicket to stabilise the innings.

Just when the partnership was looking dangerous, Shafali Verma fooled McGrath with a tossed-up delivery which spun just enough to beat the bat of an aggressive McGrath to be stumped by Richa Ghosh.

Devika dismissed dangerous Perry early

An over later, Perry departed in search of a big shot down the ground, caught by Harleen Deol in a juggling act of the bowling off Devika Vaidya. Thereafter, it was a complete Harris and Gardner show as the two batters took the Indian bowlers to the cleaners.

Gardner-Harris show rescued Aussies, troubled Indians later

All the Indian bowlers looked clueless in front of the two Australian batters as they found the boundaries at will. It was Harris who first brought up her fifty in just 28 balls with a six off Renuka Singh in the 18th over and then a ball later Gardner also reached the feat with a boundary in just 25 balls.

It was raining boundaries and sixes towards the end as the Indian bowlers looked completely out of sorts and some sloppy work in the field also didn't help the hosts. Vaidya turned out to be the most economical for India with figures of 1/26 from her three overs.

(With PTI inputs)