Australia beats off-colour India by 44 runs

Cape Town: Batting let India down as it collapsed like a pack of cards to suffer a 44-run loss to Australia in a low-scoring Women’s T20 World Cup warm-up match in Cape Town on Monday.

Asked to field, the India bowlers blew away the top-order but tail-enders Georgia Wareham (32) and Jess Jonassen’s (22) unbeaten 50-run partnership powered Australia to 129 for eight. In reply, the India batters were skittled out for 85 in 16 overs.

Pacer Darcie Brown (4/17) was the wrecker-in-chief as she cleaned up the Indian top-order, taking the vital scalps of Shafali Verma (2), Smriti Mandhana (0) and Richa Ghosh (5).

The bad run of Jemimah Rodrigues, who opened the innings alongside Shafali, continued as she was out on nought while skipper Harmanpreet Kaur did not bat. Harleen Doel (12) showed some intent, hitting two fours, before succumbing to a run out while Deepti Sharma was the top scorer as the all-rounder remained unbeaten on 19.

Earlier, veteran pacer Shikha Pandey (2/9) struck in her first two overs to send Australia skipper Meg Lanning (0) and Tahlia McGrath (2) packing.

A run out by Radha Yadav spelt the end of Ellyse Perry (1) as Australia was reeling at 10 for three. Ashleigh Gardner (22) and Beth Mooney (28) provided some resistance, but Pooja Vastrakar (2/16) and Radha Yadav (2/22) ran through the middle-order.

Renuka Singh, who had an off day, was the most expensive bowler for India, giving away 39 runs in her three overs.

The Indians couldn’t break the partnership between Wareham and Jonassen, who shared five fours and three sixes between them and helped post a healthy total of 129.

Brief scores: Australia 129/8 in 20 overs (G Wareham 32) bt India 85 in 16 overs (D Brown 4/17)