India Women choked in the closing stages as Australia Women eked out a three-run win in the second ODI and took an unassailable 2-0 lead to clinch the series at the Wankhede in Mumbai on Saturday.
Opting to bat first, the visitors rallied to post 258/8 on the back of opener Phoebe Litchfield’s 63 and Ellyse Perry’s 50 despite Deepti Sharma’s five-wicket haul.
In reply, Richa Ghosh scored a valiant 96, making the equation easier for India as they needed only 22 off the last 18 balls with four wickets in hand. But pacer Annabel Sutherland (3/47), who had earlier denied Richa a century, dismissed Pooja Vastrakar in the 48th over and the momentum shifted towards Australia.
That over from Sutherland and the next from Ashleigh Gardner allowed India just three runs each as the hosts eventually lost the plot.
India were also sloppy in the field earlier, dropping seven catches. They were
a tad unforunate too on missing Sneh Rana’s services with the bat.
Harleen Deol came in as Rana’s concussion substitute after the latter collided with Vastrakar while fielding during the 25th over of the game and was later hospitalised.
