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The Times of India
The Times of India
Sport
Gaurav Gupta | TNN

Mooney makes merry as Australia rout India in opener

Opener slams 89* as Australia clinch first T20 by five wickets

MUMBAI: If India hope to take even a single game away from the Aussies in this five-match women's T20I series, they must find a way past Beth Mooney's broad bat and learn how to counter the dew factor. Egged on by more than 30,000 spectators — a record, highest-ever turnout for a women's cricket match in India — at the DY Patil Stadium on Friday night, the hosts raced away to 172 for 5 in 20 overs against Australia in the opening T20I after being put in.

However, they joy was short-lived as Mooney, relishing the batting paradise against a mediocre, clueless atta ck — made worse by the dew factor and some sloppy fielding — stroked an unbeaten 89 (57b, 16x4) to fashion a thumping nine-wicket win for the visitors them gives them a 1-0 lead in a series that threaten s to be lop-sided unless India find a way to take wickets.

Unflustered by the target, the Aussies, running hard between the wickets while finding the boundaries regularly, were provided a fine 73-run start off just 53 balls by openers Mooney, who slammed her sixth T20I half-century against India and14th overall, and new skipper Alyssa Healy 37 (23b, 4x4, 2x6).

Indi a finally found a breakthrough when Healy was caught at cover off a low full toss by Devika Vaidya-playing her first T20I in eight years — but in came another Aussie batting powerhouse, Tahlia McGrath, who tonked an unbeaten 40 (29b, 4x4, 1x6), while putting on an undefeated 100-run stand in just 56 balls with the unstoppable Mooney, to take the team home with 11 balls in the bag. It was the Aussie women's team's 16th win on the trot, and the first for Healy as captain. It was the first time they were playing as a team since clinching the Commonwealth Games gold in August, but that hardly mattered.

Earlier, while all the batters chipped in, bar Jemimah Rodrrigues (0), what gave India's innings the wheels were power-packed cameos by Richa Ghosh (36, 20b, 5x4, 2x6) and Deepti Sharma (36 not out, 15b, 8x4). With both Deepti and Richa going all g uns blazing, the hosts went berserk in the secon d half of their innings, plundering 85 off the final 7 overs.

Brief scores: India women: 172-5 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 28, Devika Vaidya 25*, Richa Ghosh 36, Deepti Sharma 36*; Ellyse Perry 2-10) lost to Australia women: 173-1 in 18. 1 overs (Beth Mooney 89*, Tahila McGrath 40*; Devika Vaidya 1-33) by nine wickets

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