Australian Bats Faulter on Day One
Australia and India haven’t played a test match on Indian soil since 1984 when a four match series ended in a draw.
After winning the toss, Australian captain Alyssa Healy elected to bat first at Wankhede Stadium.
Australia certainly did not get off to the start they were hoping for.
Beth Mooney poked a ball into play in the first over before hesitating mid-pitch causing Phoebe Litchfield to be run out for a duck.
The next over saw more of the same for the Aussies as Ellyse Perry was bowled leaving Australia at just 7-2.
The visitors were then able to settle in and find a bit of a groove. The pair of Mooney and Tahlia McGrath worked their way through overs slowly tacking on runs.
The duo took Australia to 87 runs before McGrath sent a catchable ball to midwicket and was seen out with a half-century.
Mooney would keep on chugging but not for long as she was caught out on the final ball before lunch with 40 runs to her name and Australia on just 103-4.
Australia started strong after the break, working their way to 143 before Alyssa Healy was bowled with 38 runs to her name.
It went downhill quickly for Australia after that. Four overs later Annabel Sutherland was bowled and just after her, Ashleigh Gardner was caught out as Australia sat on 160-7.
The back half of the Aussie order then did well to fight for a respectable score as they took themselves to 219 all out.
In stark contrast to Australia, India started their batting innings on fire. They quickly jumped to 33 runs by the fifth over and just kept on going. It wasn’t until the 16th over and 90 runs on the board that Australia took their first wicket.
By days end India sat on 98-1.
India Keeps their Momentum Going on Day Two
Australia entered day two in need of a massive showing from their bowlers to level the playing field going forward. Unfortunately, India’s attack was just too much for them to handle.
Day two began just as the first had ended, with India smacking the ball around the park and tacking on runs quickly. It wasn’t until the 35th over that Australia took their first wicket of the day with India on 140-2. It was Ash Gardner who took the wickets of Sneh Rana which began what was to be a phenomenal effort from Gardner.
Four overs later Gardner was able to run out Smriti Mandhana as India was now at 147-3.
India would then explode again all the way to 260 before back-to-back wickets for Australia stopped the bleeding temporarily.
It was Ash Gardner involved again as she first made the catch on Richa Ghosh to see her out before bowling Harmanpreet Kaur in the next inning. Just two overs later in was Gardner again, this time taking the wickets of Yastika Bhatia to push India to 265-6.
Gardner’s bowling took another Indian wicket five overs later as Jemimah Rodrigues was caught out.
At 274-7 it appeared as though Australia would be able to escape with minimal damage on the day, but the partnership of Deepti Sharma and Pooja Vastrakar had other ideas.
The pair put together a 103-run partnership to take India to 376-7 and a 157-run lead by the days end.
