Australia women clinch T-20 tri-series; beat India by 11 runs in the final

Hyderabad: After a record run-chase against the same team a few days ago, Indian women faltered this time around as the Australian women beat them in the final of the Tri-series by 11 runs to claim the Tri-series at the MCG on Wednesday.

The Australian women won the Todd and elected to bat first in the final as they looked to put some pressure later on in the innings. Openers Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney walked out to bat as Deepthi Sharma struck early on in the innings.

She sent Healy back for 4 as Australia's highest run-scorer from the previous match, Ashleigh Gardener came in at 3. The duo had a solid 52-run partnership before Arundhati Reddy dismissed Gardener.

Beth Mooney continued her impressive show of batting alongside skipper Meg Lanning as the duo put up a 50 run-partnership. This was also followed up by the wicket of Lanning off Radha Yadav. Australia's 3-time Belinda Clark medal-winner Ellyse Perry got out for 1 run. Beth Mooney kept scoring from one half as she finally got some back up from Rachael Haynes. Mooney finished on 71 as Australia set India a target of 156 to win the Tri-series.

Openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana started the innings for India. Shafali Verma was once again looking in fine form but couldn't convert it into a big one. She got out for 10. India saw a new face at No 3 as Richa Ghosh walked out to bat. She couldn't find the middle of her bat and was completely looking under pressure. In her innings of 17(23), she managed to hit 2 boundaries until she got out. Jemimah Rodrigues walked out to bat as India were at 54/2. Even Rodrigues departed after scoring 2 runs as India were in trouble at 65/3.

Smriti Mandhana then alongside skipper Harmanpreet Kaur put up a 50-run stand to stabilize the innings. Mandhana then got out for a brilliant 66 as India were down to 115/4. India then lost 2 quick wickets in succession courtesy of some quality bowling from Jess Jonassen. She ran through the India batting line up with 5 wickets to her name as no one except for Mandhana batted well.

This resulted in India losing to Australia by 11 runs in the final of the Tri-series. Australia made a brilliant comeback into the series after losing to India by not defending 177. They then beat England to qualify for the final and then went on to win the series.

Beth Mooney was adjudged as the player of the series for her batting exploits at the top of the order.