4th women’s T20I: Australia beat India by seven runs, take unassailable 3-1 lead

Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh's late power hitting proved not enough as Australia rode on Ellyse Perry's masterclass half-century

Mumbai: Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh’s late power hitting proved not enough as Australia rode on Ellyse Perry’s masterclass half-century to secure a series-clinching seven-run win in the fourth women’s T20I here on Saturday.

Continuing her dream comeback, Perry smashed a blistering 72 not out from 42 deliveries (7×4, 4×6) to power Australia to 188 for 3 after being invited to bat. The visiting side’s captain Alyssa Healy retired hurt after scoring 30 due to a calf injury.

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In reply, India managed 181 for 5 in their 20 overs as Harmanpreet’s 30-ball 46 and Richa’s 19-ball 40 not out went in vain.

World champions Australia thus clinched the five-match series as they have taken an unassailable 3-1 lead going into the final T20I here on Tuesday.

India were down 49 for 3 inside seven overs and they needed 105 from 54 balls when Harmanpreet stepped it up against Megan Schutt.

The Indian skipper then punished Heather Graham, smashing her four boundaries from five balls in the 13th over that yielded 17 runs to revive the chase. But Harmanpreet fell four runs shy of her half century as India still needed 68 runs from 34 deliveries when Richa took over.

Needing 38 runs from the last two overs, Richa smashed Heather Graham for two successive sixes and followed it up with a boundary. Defending 20 runs from the last over, the experience of Megan Schutt came handy as she bowled intelligently to concede just 12 runs.

Richa managed just two strikes in the final over with Schutt brilliantly bowling to her field. Australia suffered a big blow when their skipper Alyssa Healy strained her calf muscle while batting.

Healy cruised to 30 off 21 balls with six fours but on the penultimate ball of the powerplay, she seemed to have strained her calf muscle while trying to pull Deepti Sharma.

She limped off the field after the powerplay and did not return to bat. In Healy’s absence, McGrath led the side, while Beth Mooney donned the wicketkeeping gloves. Australia were virtually down by three wickets for 46 after Tahlia McGrath was cleaned up by Radha Yadav in the seventh over.

Brief Scores: Australia 188/3 in 20 overs (Ellyse Perry 72 no; Deepti Sharma 2/35) bt India 181/5 in 20 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 46, Richa Ghosh 40 no; Ashleigh Gardner 2/20, Alana King 2/23).