New Delhi: Harmanpreet Kaur-led India defeated Australia by 21 runs via the DLS method in the rain-affected first T20I between the two sides at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney on Sunday. Pacer Arundhatti Reddy starred with the ball to help the Indian women bundle out Australia cheaply on 133 runs before the batters got the Women in Blue off to a flyer in the run chase.
Courtesy of an explosive start from opener Shafali Verma, India were cruising at 50/1 in just 5.1 overs when rain forced a break, which eventually led to the game getting called off. India were well ahead in terms of the DLS par score in their 134-run chase and were declared winners to go 1-0 up in the three-match T20I series.
Pacer Renuka Singh got India off to a good start with the ball after they opted to bowl first in the game. Renuka dismissed Australian opener Beth Mooney cheaply on 5 to break the 22-run stand between her and Georgia Voll. Young pacer Kranti Goud dismissed Voll on 18 off 10 balls in the next over to put the hosts under pressure.
Australia managed to recover well with the help of a 41-run stand for the third wicket between Ellyse Perry (20) and Phoebe Litchfield (26), however, Arundhati broke the partnership in the 8th over and got rid of both batters in quick succession to bring India back into the contest.
The pacer also picked up the important wicket of Georgia Wareham (30) before cleaning up tail-ender Darcie Brown to finish with excellent figures of 4/22 off her 4 overs and help India skittle out the hosts for 133 runs in 18 overs. She was well supported by Renuka and spinner Shree Charani, who picked up two wickets apiece.