Canberra, Feb 19 (.) Australia have hit back in style to level the multi-format series against India, with a career-best performance from Georgia Voll headlining a comfortable 19-run win in the second T20I.
After dropping the first game of the series on Sunday, Australia produced a more polished display at Manuka Oval as Voll (88 off 57) laid the foundation for Australia’s 5-163, scoring her first T20I half-century on home soil.
India’s openers made a strong start in reply racing to 0-54 in the Powerplay, but a superb fightback from the Australian bowlers, led by Ashleigh Gardner (3-22), Kim Garth (2-16) and Annabel Sutherland (2-18), saw the tourists restricted to 9-144.
It means the multi-format series now stands level at two points apiece heading into Saturday’s third and final T20I at the Adelaide Oval, while news skipper Sophie Molineux has secured her first win as national T20I leader.
Needing 164 to extend their series lead, Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma picked up where they had left off at the SCG on Sunday, dominating the Powerplay.
And much like the first game of the series, again it was captain Molineux (2-37) who broke the opening partnership in her first over, trapping Verma lbw for 29 off 23.
Gardner then had the dangerous Jemimah Rodrigues (4) caught in the deep as the hosts began to build pressure, and when a clever review from Garth revealed she had just caught the underside of Mandhana’s bat down the leg side in the 10th, with Mooney safely pouching the chance behind the stumps, the India vice-captain was forced to depart for 31 and the tourists were 3-71 at the midway mark of their chase.
With the required run rate creeping towards 10 an over, Australia continued to build pressure as Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh loomed as the keys for India.
With 44 runs needed from the final four overs, the Indian pair brought up their 50-run partnership before Garth again broke through, this time securing the huge wicket of Harmanpreet for a 39-ball 36.
When Gardner had Ghosh (19) stumped four balls later, then had Deepti Sharma caught for a duck in the same over, the tourists were 6-128 and Australia could sniff their first points of the series.
The wickets continued to tumble, India losing 6-7 in 3.1 overs as the hosts iced an emphatic win.
Earlier, put into bat for a second consecutive match, Voll had Australia off to a strong start, dominating the strike to help the host reach 0-48 at the end of the Powerplay.
The Queenslander kept the pressure on the Indian attack as she raced to her second T20I half-century – and her first on home soil – from 31 deliveries, before surpassing her previous best
in the format of 77.
At the other end Mooney looked far less comfortable, finding the boundary on just four occasions as she worked her way to 46 from 39 deliveries before chipping a simple catch to Verma at mid-on.
During her innings, she passed Meg Lanning’s record of 3405 to become Australia’s greatest run scorer in T20 Internationals, while also moving to fifth on the all-time list in women’s T20Is.
It broke a the 128-run opening stand – Australia’s highest against India in the format, bettering the famous partnership shared by Mooney and Alyssa Healy at the MCG in the 2020 T20 World Cup final – in the 15th over.
Voll’s hopes of a maiden T20I century were dashed on 88 when she was caught in the deep on 88, ending a superb 57-ball innings that featured 11 fours and a six.
From a dominant position at 2-141 in the 17th, Australia’s momentum evaporated through the final three overs as India wrestled back control.
The hosts opted not to send out pinch-hitter Georgia Wareham, who has a strike rate of 139 in the format, in the final overs, instead sticking to their usual batting order.
Phoebe Litchfield (6 off 5), Ellyse Perry (7 off 10) and Gardner (10no off 9) all struggled to find the rope, as just 19 runs, including two boundaries, came off the final 18 deliveries.
Australia and India will now travel to Adelaide for the third and final T20I on Saturday night.
. .