Australia women beat India by three runs in second ODI to take unassailable lead in three-match series

Australia women beat India women by three runs in the second ODI at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday December 30 to take a 2-0 lead in the three-match series. Chasing 259, India could only manage 255 runs. Needing 16 runs in the final over, India's lower order batters did hit two boundaries but Player of the Match Annabel Sutherland managed to hold the hosts short of a modest target.

Earlier, Australia won the toss and elected to bat first. India took the first wicket early, sending skipper Alyssa Healy back on a team score of 40. Ellyse Perry (50) and Phoebe Litchfield (63) then added 77 runs for the second wicket before Deepti Sharma sent Perry back for the first wicket of her five-for.

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Australia kept losing wickets after that at regular intervals but handy lower-order contribution took them to 258/8. For India, apart from Sharma's 5/38, Sneh Rana, Shreyanka Patil and Pooja Vastrakar each took one wicket.

During the chase, Yastika Bhatia (14) was first to get out for a team score of 37 followed by Smriti Mandhana (34) on 71. After, Richa Ghosh scored a brilliant 96 and Jemimah Rodrigues hit 44 as the duo added 88 runs for the third wicket. After Rodrigues' fall, India kept losing wickets regularly and eventually fell short.

For Australia, Sutherland took 3/47 while Georgia Wareham took 2/39. Apart from them, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth and Alana King took one wicket each.

Speaking after the match, India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said: "We bowled really well. We knew we had to keep looking for wickets. Lots of positives. I know they took the game away. I'm proud of the team, the way we played. We needed a bit more awareness late in the chase."

The third and final ODI of the series will be played on January 2, 2024. It will be followed by three-T20Iswhich starts from January 5.