It was a game which sums up the story of the Indian women's team's tour of Australia. Thanks to a superb knock under pressure by Tahlia McGrath (42*, 33b, 6x4) in the end, Harmanpreet Kaur & Co lost a thrilling, low-scoring game, but stole hearts with their resilience.
Fighting back from a situation in which they looked like heading for a rout, the spirited Indians gave the Aussies a run for their money, before finally losing their nerves in the tense moments to go down by four wickets in the second T20I at the Metricon Stadium in Gold Coast on Saturday night.
With this defeat, India also lost the multi-format series, which Australia lead now by 9-5. India now only have pride to play for in the final T20I on Sunday.
Still, the visitors can hold their heads high with the way they've stretched a formidable team all summer. Having collapsed to 81 for 9 in 17 overs on a difficult wicket, India were brought back from the dead into the game by allrounder Pooja Vastrakar's unbeaten 37 (26b, 2x6, 3x4) and her 37-run stand in just 18 balls for the tenth wicket with Rajeshwari Gayakwad.
Brief Scores: India 118-9 (Pooja Vastrakar 37*, Harmanpreet Kaur 28) lost to Australia 119-6 in 19.1 overs (Tahlia McGrath 42*, Beth Mooney 34; Rajeshwari Gayakwadi 3-21)
