Australia women shone with the bat and ball to defeat India in the final rubber by 97 runs and whitewash the hosts 3-0 in the One-Day International (ODI) series at the Reliance Stadium in Vadodara on Sunday.
Australia posted a mammoth 332-7 after opting to bat, thanks to a brilliant century by Alyssa Healy (133) on top of the order. Later, off-spinner Ashleigh Gardner (3/40) and Ellyse Perry (2/40) picked up five wickets in unison to dismiss India to 235 runs in the 45th over.
In the chase, Jemimah Rodrigues (42) and Smriti Mandhana (52) forged a 101-run partnership to take India to a dominating start before the former was sent back by Gardner.
Following the dismissal, incoming batters Mithali Raj (21), Harmanpreet Kaur (25), Deepti Sharma (36) and Sushma Verma (30) got among the runs but failed to produce a match-winning knock.
Later, the lower order batters were sent back with ease by the Australian bowlers to ensure a dominating victory.
Earlier, after opting to bat, Australia lost their opener Nicole Bolton (11) within the first six overs after she was caught and bowled by Ekta Bisht.
However, Healy played a match-winning 115 balls innings laced with 17 boundaries and two hits over the fence to keep the opposition struggling on the backfoot.
Barring Healy, batters Ellyse Perry (32), Rachael Haynes (43), Beth Mooney (34 not out), Ashleigh Gardner (35) played key knocks to help Australia reach over the 300 mark.
For India, Harmanpreet Kaur was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2/51.
(With inputs from IANS)
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