Mullanpur: Butter-fingered India dropped four catches as fine half-centuries from Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney and Annabel Sutherland powered Australia Women’s to a crushing eight-wicket victory in the first ODI here on Sunday.
Batting first, India posted 281 for seven, and Australia completed the chase in 44.1 overs.
Litchfield (88 off 80 balls) was dropped twice while Mooney (77 not out off 74) and Ellyse Perry (30 retired hurt) received a lifeline each, as the Australians took a 1-0 lead in the three-match affair, which precedes the upcoming ODI World Cup.
During their stay in the middle, Mooney and Sutherland (54 not out off 51) added 116 runs for the third wicket.
Mooney, who was dropped by Deepti Sharma on 56, struck nine fours in her knock while Sutherland had six hits to the fence.
India had done fairly well in the first half of the game to set the visitors a 282-run target, putting their money on their spin battery but when chances were produced, the fielders came up short.
Litchfield made the most of two lifelines to make 88 runs with 14 fours which was laced with spectacular shots across the ground as she set the platform for Australia’s successful run chase.
However, Litchfield had the Indians to thank for that since she received a lifeline as early as in the second over when Jemimah Rodrigues spilled a sitter at midwicket off Sneh Rana when the Australian was yet to open her account.
In the 19th over, Litchfield got another lifeline on 56 when India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur dropped another easy chance at cover off Radha Yadav.
In between, Perry got a reprieve when Pratika Rawal, coming in from deep midwicket, could not hold on to a skier, which was hit high off a full toss from Radha, in the 17th over.
While the Indians did try their best to build pressure on the Australians in the field, the dropped catches and the occasional misfields did not help.
A firm believer of the reverse-sweep shot, Litchfield executed most of them adroitly.
One of them even went soaring for a boundary over the cover region but over reliance on the stroke led to her dismissal when a top edge was taken by substitute fielder Arundhati Reddy off Rana in the 27th over.
Litchfield’s dismissal followed Perry’s return to the dressing room owing to a calf strain which prevented her from running comfortably between wickets, putting a halt to their flourish in which the two Australians put on 79 runs for the second wicket.
Perry’s exit brought Mooney at the crease while Litchfield’s dismissal had no impact on Australia’s surge as they won the game comfortably.
Earlier, half-centuries by Pratika Rawal (64), Smriti Mandhana (58) and Harleen Deol (54) lifted India Women’s to a competitive total.
India were served well by their top order batters with each of them hitting their stride to make significant contributions, even as the middle order players did not get going.
Rawal and Mandhana put on 114 for the first wicket — now the third highest for India against Australia — showing why they have been a force to reckon with as a pair.
Australia, on their part, used as many as eight bowling options to get their players up and running in Indian conditions, with the ODI World Cup now a fortnight away.
