Tanuka Kanwar and Prema Rawat pulled off the thrilling win for India, stitching 68 runs for the eighth wicket. Earlier, Yastika Bhatia and Radha Yadav both notched up crucial half-centuries. With this win, India A Women have also sealed the three-match series with a game left.
India A Women, under the captaincy of Radha Yadav, sealed the three-match series against Australia A at the Ian Healy Oval in Brisbane today, chasing down 266 runs in a thrilling second One-Day. It was a terrific performance from the visitors as they weathered the storm and most importantly, the lower-order pulled off an epic win in a tense chase.
India lost four wickets for less than 100 runs
Shafali Verma continued to struggle on the tour as she registered her second consecutive low score. Dhara Gujjar bagged a duck while Tejal Hasabnis and Raghvi Bist wasted bright starts to leave the team reeling at 83/4 in the 16th over. At this stage, India A seemed to be in trouble. But this is when opener Yastika Bhatia joined hands with skipper Radha Yadav to notch up 68-run stand for the fifth.
Bhatia got out to Georgia Prestwidge after scoring 66 runs off 71 balls and yet again, Australia came back strongly, dismissing Minnu Mani soon after. Once again, at 157/6, India were in trouble of being folded early. However, Radha had other ideas as she kept finding boundaries regularly while adding crucial 36 runs for the seventh wicket.
Kanwar stuns Australia with her antics
But Radha was dismissed with India needing 73 more runs to win and that dented their hopes to seal the series. But Tanuja Kanwar had other ideas and she had a reliable lower-order batter in Prema Rawat to support her. Australia were on top at this stage and they might not have expected this duo to stick around for long.
However, they didn’t only hang around but also scored runs at a quicker pace with the required run-rate above 6. The 68-run stand and Kanwar’s half-century brought India A five runs within the victory. But things took a twist yet again with Kanwar getting out on the first ball of the final over.ย
Rawat held her nervesย in the end to take the team over the line with one ball and two wickets in hand. India A sealed the series 2-0 with a game to go as Australian players looked disappointed to not have closed the game despite being ahead right through.
Healy shines for Australia
Earlier, Alyssa Healy shone for Australia after won the toss and elected to bat first. She slammed 91 runs off 87 balls with eight fours and three sixes to her name but none of Australia’s top seven batters could convert their starts. It was due to Kim Garth’s enterprising knock of 41* runs and Prestwidge’s fireworks in the death overs that Australia managed to post 265 runs on the board in their 50 overs. The score seemed par at the halfway mark but India put up a great fight to seal the contest in the end.
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