Scoring her fifth half-century, India skipper Mithali Raj crossed 20,000 runs in an epic career, but couldn't prevent Australia from hammering her team by nine wickets in the opening ODI at the Great Barrier Reef Arena in Mackay on Tuesday.
It was Australia's 25th consecutive ODI win - an incredible streak which began in March 2018 in India. The four-time World Cup champs last lost an ODI in October 2017.
Throughout the game, India's problems, which were visible during their English tour recently, in both batting and bowling were exposed thoroughly. Before the first game, coach Ramesh Powar had said that his team was looking to score at least 250 in ODIs. However, all that India managed was 225 for eight.
As usual, Mithali top-scored with 63 - her 59th fifty - but consumed 107 balls in the process, hitting just three fours. Indeed, India are in a strange predicament - they want the captain to score faster, but can't fully blame her because they wouldn't even score that much without her contribution. Still, the visitors would take heart from the cameos of debutants Yastika Bhatia (35 off 51), who replaced the injured Harmanpreet Kaur at No 3, and Richa Ghosh (32 not out off 29).
They were missing three frontline bowlers, but the Aussies thrived on the teenage pace pair of Darcie Brown (4-33) and debutant Hannah Darlington (2-29) to blow away the Indians.
With Rachael Haynes (93 not out off 100) and Alyssa Healy (77 off 77), watched by Australian pacer Mitchell Starc in the dugout, and skipper Mag Lanning (53 not out off 69 balls) all scoring fifties, Australia gunned down the target in 41 overs against a mediocre bowling attack.
Post the game, Mithali felt that it was imperative for the openers Shafali Verma (8) and especially the experienced Smriti Mandhana (16) to provide the team with a good start. "I mean, see the opening partnership, if they give us a good start, clearly the middle order can take the momentum from there. But if you lose early wickets, you actually have to build an innings in the first 10 overs. Smriti has been in the international circuit for a while, so we would expect some runs from her," said Mithali.
BRIEF SCORES: India 225-8 in 50 overs (M Raj 63, Y Bhatia 35, R Ghosh 32*; Brown 4-33) lost to Australia 227-1 in 41 overs (R Haynes 93*, A Healy 77, M Lanning 53*) by 9 wickets
