Australia safe series-clinching win in fourth ladies’s T20I towards India

Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh’s late power-hitting proved not sufficient as Australia rode on Ellyse Perry’s masterclass half-century to safe a series-clinching seven-run win within the fourth ladies’s T20I.

Continuing her dream comeback, Perry smashed a blistering 72 not out from 42 deliveries (7×4, 4×6) to energy Australia to 188 for 3 after being invited to bat. The visiting facet’s captain Alyssa Healy retired damage after scoring 30 because of a calf harm.

Close end within the fourth #INDvAUS T20I however it was Australia who received the match! #GroupIndia will look to bounce again within the fifth & ultimate T20I of the collection on Tuesday 👍 👍

Scorecard 👉 https://t.co/kG4AnI9x7J pic.twitter.com/i3wgeyRxB2

— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) December 17, 2022

In reply, India managed 181 for five of their 20 overs as Harmanpreet’s 30-ball 46 and Richa’s 19-ball 40 not out went in useless.

World champions Australia thus clinched the five-match collection as they’ve taken an unassailable 3-1 lead going into the ultimate T20I. India have been down 49 for 3 inside seven overs and so they wanted 105 from 54 balls when Harmanpreet stepped it up towards Megan Schutt.

The Indian skipper then punished Heather Graham, smashing her 4 boundaries from 5 balls within the thirteenth over that yielded 17 runs to revive the chase. But Harmanpreet fell 4 runs shy of her half century as India nonetheless wanted 68 runs from 34 deliveries when Richa took over.

Needing 38 runs from the final two overs, Richa smashed Heather Graham for 2 successive sixes and adopted it up with a boundary. Defending 20 runs from the final over, the expertise of Megan Schutt got here useful as she bowled intelligently to concede simply 12 runs. Richa managed simply two strikes within the ultimate over with Schutt brilliantly bowling to her discipline.

Australia suffered a giant blow when their skipper Alyssa Healy strained her calf muscle whereas batting.

Healy cruised to 30 off 21 balls with six fours however on the penultimate ball of the powerplay, she appeared to have strained her calf muscle whereas making an attempt to tug Deepti Sharma. She limped off the sector after the powerplay and didn’t return to bat.

In Healy’s absence, McGrath led the facet, whereas Beth Mooney donned the wicketkeeping gloves. Australia have been just about down by three wickets for 46 after Tahlia McGrath was cleaned up by Radha Yadav within the seventh over. But Healy’s absence was hardly felt as veteran all-rounder Perry continued her dream run with a second successive half century.

The 32-year-old, who struck a 75 in Australia’s 21-run win within the third T20I, together with Ashleigh Gardner took cost of the proceedings. The duo placed on 94 runs off simply 59 balls to grab the momentum from the twelfth over onwards after being invited to bat.

Gardner smoked three sixes and as many boundaries to lend Perry an ideal assist. After the departure of Gardner within the seventeenth over, it was Grace Harris who took on the assault as she made a quick-fire 27 not out from 12 deliveries (1×6, 1×4) to proceed to pile distress on the Indians.

Perry, who was earlier axed from Australia’s T20 facet apparently for sluggish batting, used her toes nicely to the Indian spinners and drove powerfully. With Perry and Gardner in full cost, Australia scored 115 runs within the final 9 overs to prop up their whole. India’s sloppy fielding additionally continued to allow them to down. The dwelling facet had an opportunity to expire Perry on 12 when she struggled to finish a run.

It was a high-quality throw from skipper Harmanpreet Kaur from the additional cowl, however Radha Yadav fumbled on the non-striker’s finish.

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Brief Scores:
Australia: 188 for 3 in 20 overs (Ellyse Perry 72 not out, Ashleigh Gardner 42; Deepti Sharma 2/35).
India: 181 all out in 20 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 46, Richa Ghosh 40 not out; Ashleigh Gardner 2/20, Alana King 2/23).