Need to be decisive in decider

With both teams learning their lessons, India and Australia will be better equipped to deal with the challenges that come their way in today’s third and final T20I

Only once in their 33 Women’s T20Is against Australia have India won two matches consecutively. That was in January 2016 in Australia, the only time India won a T20I series against the multiple world champions (2-1).

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All-rounder Deepti Sharma, who top-scored in the second T20I on Sunday with 30 and took 2-22 in India’s six-wicket loss to Australia, looked at the positive side of things even in defeats. “We were not taking the games close in the past. But in recent times, we have been taking it to the last over. We are putting up a better fight. It is not long before we win a series against Australia and who knows, it could be even in the next match [today].”

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With the series 1-1 and everything to play for in the final T20I on Tuesday at the same venue (DY Patil Stadium), where more than 44,000 watch the action on Sunday night. Deepti said the team fell 15 runs short and felt that with the prevailing conditions, 150-160 is a par score. The teams batting first in the first two matches fell way short—141 by Australia in the first and 130 by India in the second. Deepti felt that there was nothing wrong with the team’s approach. 

“It was not easy as the pitch was turning and was slow. However, we managed to pull back.” Australia may have won with one over to spare and lost four wickets in the space of 46 runs but they were never in trouble at any stage.

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Australia’s player of the match, medium-pacer Kim Garth (2-27) said that there were tense moments in the Aussie dugout. “Obviously, we’d have liked to get over the line a little earlier than we did. But everyone was confident with the batting depth we have,” said the 27-year-old Garth, who played for Ireland from 2010 to 2019 before becoming a permanent resident of Australia in 2022 to be eligible to play for them.

Perry capped her 300th international appearance by taking two catches in the deep, effecting a run out and acing the Aussie chase with 34 not out. Perry hit the winning runs, a six off off-spinner Shreyanka Patil, the first time that she hit a six as the winning runs in her 146 T20Is.

A late inclusion in the playing XI, Garth said: “Every time I get an opportunity to play for Australia, it’s very special. To go out there and take wickets is very pleasing and more importantly, to equal the series going into the last game is most pleasing.” She added that she used the experience of playing for Gujarat Giants in WPL 2023 in which she took 11 wickets.

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