Beth Mooney’s unbeaten 52 off 45 balls helped Australia Women beat India in the third and deciding match of the T20I series on Tuesday.
After winning the one-off Test, India have now lost both the ODI and T20I series, with just two wins from six white-ball games.
Chasing 148, Australia rode an 85-run opening stand between captain Alyssa Healy and Mooney to set up the seven-wicket victory.
The aggressive Australian skipper played her natural game and nearly killed the chase inside the first 10 overs. All Mooney needed to do was hold one end and allow the others to play their part.
Earlier, Richa Ghosh’s brisk 34 saved India the blushes as they posted 147 for six.
India squandered a rollicking start to lose four wickets for six runs and were tottering at the halfway stage after Shafali Verma (26) and Smriti Mandhana (29) set the stage for a strong first-innings total.
India were 51 for 1 after the Powerplay but slipped to 66/4 after 10 overs, losing wickets in a cluster. But Richa’s knock gave India a fresh lease of life as India added 81 runs in the last 10 overs.
Richa smacked three sixes and two fours in her quickfire 28-ball innings before departing in the final over when Ashleigh Gardner cleaned her up.
Additionally, vital contributions from Deepti Sharma (14), Amanjot Kaur (17) and Pooja Vastrakar’s six off the innings’ last ball gave India a fighting total.
Shafali cracked three fours off Garth in the fourth over to mark a strong start for India, adding 39 for the first wicket but against the run of the play, the opener was caught behind off Megan Schutt.
Shafali hit six fours to make 26 from 17 balls.
But Australia came roaring back to strike thrice with Annabel Sutherland (2/12) bouncing out Jemimah Rodrigues.
