MUMBAI: Australia Women opener Phoebe Litchfield’s blitz powered the Aussies to 338/7 against India in the 3rd ODI match at Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday.
After winning the toss, skipper Alyssa Healy opted to bat first in Mumbai. Her decision did not go wrong as the visitors gave a target of 339 runs.
Aussie opener Litchfield (119 runs from 125 balls) and Healy (82 runs from 85 balls) played a solid 189-run partnership to get an upper hand on the game and posted 338/7 in the first inning.
Following the first breakthrough of the game from Pooja Vastrakar, India came back stronger as none of the new Aussie batters failed to make a mark.
Following the dismissal of the openers, Ashleigh Gardner (30 runs from 27 balls) and Annabel Sutherland (23 runs from 21 balls) took control of the batting lineup and kept the runs coming.
Till the end, Georgia Wareham (11* runs from 8 balls) and Alana King (26* runs from 14 balls) were unbeaten till the last ball of the inning got a late push to finish strongly against the hosts.
On the other hand, Shreyanka Patil impressed in just her 2nd ODI and led the Indian bowling attack after she scalped three wickets in her 10-over spell and gave away 57 runs. Patil picked up three crucial wickets in the middle phase of the inning. Meanwhile, Amanjot Kaur bagged two wickets in her respective spell.
Harmanpreet Kaur’s side need to make 339 runs in the second inning to win the match.
Brief Score: Australia 338/7 (Phoebe Litchfield 119, Alyssa Healy 82; Shreyanka Patil 3-57) vs India (ANI)