The Indian women’s cricket team was handed a comprehensive defeat by the mighty Australia, who won by 9 wickets in the first ODI, taking their unbeaten streak to 25 in Mackay on Tuesday. The four-time World Cup winners last lost an ODI in October 2017.
India, who are aiming to post 250-plus regularly to challenge the likes of Australia, could only manage 225 for eight in an innings that never got the momentum it needed. The visitors were also without Harmanpreet Kaur, who is out due to injury.
Australia now lead the three-match series 1-0.
Captain Mithali Raj (61 off 107) recorded her fifth consecutive half-century while the likes of debutants Yastika Bhatia (35 off 51), Richa Ghosh (32 not out off 29) and Jhulan Goswami (20 off 24) made handy contributions to the cause.
Australia chased down the target at a canter, with 9 overs to go, as India’s bowling lacked the wherewithal to trouble.
After a quiet start of 30 runs in eight overs, Alyssa Healy (77 off 77) and Rachael Haynes (93 not out off 100) decided to go through the gears, putting the result beyond doubt.
Healy was the aggressor in their 126-run stand with her dominating knock comprising eight fours and two sixes. However, she could not finish things off and was caught at mid off while trying to hit Poonam Yadav.
Haynes and Meg Lanning (53 not out off 69) then shared a 101-run stand to take the hosts over the line.
A much-changed India fielded three debutants in the game in Ghosh, Yastika and Mansi Singh and will have to rework their plans quickly before the next ODI on Friday.
Megha impressed with her ability to swing the ball while Jhulan bowled a tidy spell as usual but India never put any pressure on the host batters.
India would also not have crossed the 220-run mark if not for the eight-wicket stand of 45 runs between Jhulan and Ghosh.
India openers Shafali Verma (8) and Smriti Mandhana (16), whom the team relies on heavily for brisk starts, perished after hitting a few boundaries. They need to be consistent going forward.
The bowlers have identified the apparent weakness in Shafali's game and don't offer front-foot balls. The 17-year-old perished off a short ball again with wicketkeeper collecting the catch on the leg side off pacer Darcie Brown.
Brown (4/33) was the stand out bowler for Australia while debutant Hannah Darlington (2/29) and Sophie Molineux (2/39) took a couple each.
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