Australia v India: second women’s one-day international – live! | Sport

36th over: India 190-4 (Ghosh 40, Deepti 6) Up and over from Deepti! Anticipated Brown’s length, used Brown’s pace, and the uppercut vanishes for four. Was able to do that with a touch of width. Can’t handle the one at her body though: she gloves it over her own head, it’s nearly caught by Healy running forward, then Deepti is nearly run out when Healy kicks at the stumps. Fifth ball of the over, similar situation, but this time the ball carries over Healy! Picked up by the wind, perhaps, off the bat as Deepti looks to go leg side and instead sends it straight up. Several strokes of luck.

35th over: India 185-4 (Ghosh 40, Deepti 1) McGrath continuing, Deepti off the mark by flicking off her ankle through square leg. McGrath bumps Ghosh, who fends away where a slip cordon would be in the longer form, but here it just earns her a run. Deepti can’t turn over the strike from the next three balls though. Only gets a leg bye to close the over, which means she keeps the strike.

34th over: India 182-4 (Ghosh 39, Deepti 0) Whomp! Doesn’t matter that it’s Darcie Brown, the fastest bowler on the field: Ghosh drives her off a length down the ground and lands it just short of six. Top shot. Brown, in traditional style, responds with a couple of bouncers. Ghosh swings at the first and misses, bails out of the second. But as soon as Brown targets the stumps again, Ghosh clears that front foot and goes one better, for six! Same shot, even better contact, like snapping a stick of celery into the stump mic.

33rd over: India 172-4 (Ghosh 29, Deepti 0) Left-hander, left-hander, left-hander. Bhatia to Mandhana to Deepti Sharma, next in. Flirting with McGrath outside off. Patting away straight ones. Five dots to start her day at the crease.

There is that wicket! Just a half-hearted shot from Mandhana. She gets width from McGrath, drives at it but really just a push-drive. It loops rather than flies square, and Mooney at backward point has time to adjust, dip with the ball, and take the catch just about the turf.

32nd over: India 171-3 (Mandhana 86, Ghosh 29) And again! Molineux the bowler this time, and Mandhana tries a lofted drive over mid on but gets a thick edge through deep third. Brown puts in a big chase and dive to keep the scoring to three. India building nicely but one wicket will change a lot.

31st over: India 166-3 (Mandhana 82, Ghosh 28) India profiting from mistakes today, as Mandhana nicks McGrath but has it fly past Healy for four.

30th over: India 159-3 (Mandhana 76, Ghosh 27) Molineux nearly has the breakthrough after drinks. Draws the error as Ghosh edges a big shot over the infield on the off side, but it falls safe.

29th over: India 157-3 (Mandhana 75, Ghosh 26) A first look at Tahlia McGrath for the day. Mandhana respectfully defends the first ball with an immaculate straight bat. Second ball, she walks at the bowler and smashes her over cover for four. Checked the storehouse for respect, and she was fresh out. Drinks.

28th over: India 151-3 (Mandhana 70, Ghosh 25) Wareham is on the sideline now with her thigh heavily strapped. No leg spin option as this partnership reaches 50 runs. Gardner will continue with off spin. Bowls short to Ghosh who pulls a single. Mandhana follows suit to the same side of the ground, cover point for the left-hander. They go on in the same vein, a single from each ball of the over.

27th over: India 145-3 (Mandhana 67, Ghosh 22) Mandhana steps out to Darlington to drive, looking to shift the length, but can’t beat cover. Then Darlington, perhaps anticipating that leg-side movement from the batter, tries to bowl that line. Loses her angle completely and swings it down leg for five wides! Going further away from Healy as it passes. Then gets her line back, and Mandhana drives at cover, has the bat twist in her hand, and slices it away through backward point for four. Two fielders in the ring there and it splits them perfectly.

A great over for India. Two more runs as Mandhana pulls into the gap at deep square. And a couple more singles to follow. Thanks for the 13 runs.

26th over: India 132-3 (Mandhana 60, Ghosh 21) Four runs from Gardner’s over, India comfortable as they move into the second half of the innings. A partnership of 37 at nearly a run a ball is almost entirely Ghosh’s doing.

25th over: India 128-3 (Mandhana 58, Ghosh 19) Hannah Darlington on to bowl. She’s a gentle-paced seamer, sometimes a bit of swing, but she’s so hard to get away because she lands a yorker really well, mixes up her pace well, and rarely gives a length that can be hit with power. The premier death bowler in the Big Bash, now into the Australian team. And she does that job, conceding only singles, aside from a genuine nick from Ghosh’s bat to an outswinger that races fine for four.

24th over: India 121-3 (Mandhana 57, Ghosh 13) Richa Ghosh is exactly what India need at the moment. Busy, looking for opportunities. Pulls Gardner really nicely but it’s well saved on the rope at deep backward, keeping Ghosh to two. Another run from a punch into a gap at cover.

What has happened to Mandhana though? She got to 41 in nine overs. She’s added 16 in 15 overs since.

23rd over: India 117-3 (Mandhana 57, Ghosh 10) Healy can’t take Carey again, giving up another bye. Ghosh is better able to score off the skiddy seamer than anyone else today, picking up a couple of twos either side of the wicket.

22nd over: India 107-3 (Mandhana 57, Ghosh 6) Richa Ghosh is handling the bounce well, playing Brown away to deep third on a couple of occasions. Then when she gets a straighter ball she pulls square, and some good running at the start puts her in a position to push for two.

21st over: India 107-3 (Mandhana 55, Ghosh 2) Carey sticking to her plan. That angle across Mandhana is working just as well as it did to Bhatia. She loses her line on one occasion, pulled through fine leg to the rope, but aside from that she has the batter fishing outside off stump without catching anything. Healy can’t catch one either, and misses a ball swinging away from her to concede four byes.

20th over: India 98-3 (Mandhana 51, Ghosh 2) India really surrendering the initiative now, third wicket down. Richa Ghosh the next batter. Played so well the other day, late in the innings, but now has a different job with 30 overs to go. She gets away with two runs fended to fine leg from another shortish Brown delivery. They just need to keep the scoring going, it doesn’t need to be dashing.

The pressure tells. Brown bowls short, it doesn’t get up very high but Bhatia launches into a pull shot, and just skews it away to midwicket for an easy catch.

19th over: India 94-2 (Mandhana 50, Bhatia 3) No run from the Carey over to Bhatia. All angled across the left-hander, a couple of misses, a couple of miscues, and Australia are turning the screws.

18th over: India 94-2 (Mandhana 50, Bhatia 3) Darcie Brown comes back for another bowl. The milestone comes up with a pull shot away for one. Still. In the last five overs Mandhana has faced 10 balls and scored 4 runs. She’s all but come to a halt.

17th over: India 91-2 (Mandhana 49, Bhatia 0) Two left-handers now, with Yastika Bhatia to the middle. She gets going with a nice punch behind square that beats backward point. Mandhana has to go big now, but she’s really been slowed down since Verma got out.

That’s ordinary. Mandhana forces Carey off the back foot into the covers, and Lanning dives across to save. Both batters are watching the ball. Mandhana takes a few steps down with the shot, as you do. Raj seems to think that Lanning has fumbled the ball away from herself, and starts running down the wicket. At the same moment, Mandhana has seen that Lanning hasn’t fumbled and is turning back. I didn’t hear any calling there, they were just making assumptions. And made different ones.

16th over: India 88-1 (Mandhana 48, Raj 8) Molineux almost sneaks one through Raj like she did to Verma. Gets some bat on it at the last instant, and they steal a single. Mandhana goes for a cut shot but is beaten by the bounce. It’s called a wide. Really? Didn’t seem all that wide outside the off stump, she just missed it. She drives the next ball through point, but the sweeper there prevents a boundary.

Georgia Wareham is off the field, by the way. The leg-spinner might have hurt a quad muscle while chasing a ball. That will necessitate a bowling rejig if she doesn’t come back, though Australia have plenty of options.

15th over: India 85-1 (Mandhana 47, Raj 7) Nicola Carey for her first bowl, and Mandhana flicks her way to backward square leg for a single, before Mithali takes a longer look at the bowling before finding a run through cover.

14th over: India 83-1 (Mandhana 46, Raj 6) Lovely shot from Raj: seeing Molineux drop short, she waits for it to turn away and then produces a delicate late cut. More nudge than shot, and merely influences the ball away to the deep third boundary.

13th over: India 77-1 (Mandhana 45, Raj 2) Classic Mithali stuff, defending and nudging away through most of an over against Gardner before taking a run.

12th over: India 75-1 (Mandhana 45, Raj 1) Mithali Raj comes out at number three, instead of Yastika Bhatia who was listed there on the team sheet. Probably a good move from India to give Raj more time to play through the innings, with more free-scoring players at the other end.

Chopped on! Verma caught in two minds as Molineux floats the ball up full. Verma tries to play a little dab shot away for a run or two, but the line is too tight on the stumps, and she edges it onto them. Has only played a couple of shots in anger, unlike her usual style, and is out playing a little one rather than a biggie.

11th over: India 74-0 (Mandhana 45, Verma 22) Gardner will continue despite 10 runs from a first over. Quickly concedes four more early in her second, as Verma pulls her away through fine leg. That ball was turning way down the leg side and is easily helped away. Two more runs follow in singles.

10th over: India 68-0 (Mandhana 44, Verma 17) Make that double spin in the powerplay! Sophie Molineux with her left-arm ortho to complement Gardner’s off-breaks. A little more chill, with just three from the over. Mandhana is outpacing her young brash opening partner significantly.

9th over: India 65-0 (Mandhana 41, Verma 17) Spin in the powerplay for Australia, interesting move with Ashleigh Gardner thrown the ball. Mandhana sweeps hard for four, flat through square leg, foot outside the line of off. Classic left-handed batting. Verma finishes the over with a sweep of her own, though this is more muscular and aerial going behind square rather than through it.

A great start for India now.

8th over: India 55-0 (Mandhana 36, Verma 13) Well, if they’ve packed the field behind point, then Mandhana will just cut in front of point! Twice in a row Darcie Brown drops short, and Mandhana smashes at her away well in front of square. But when Browns creeps that length up a bit, Mandhana tries to play on the up, and miscues in the air through cover, Mooney diving at point but nowhere near it. A third boundary. And a fourth powerful off-side shot from the seventh ball after a wide, but by this point Australia have a cover sweeper in the deep and Darlington keeps the scoring to two.

7th over: India 40-0 (Mandhana 22, Verma 13) Perry to continue bowling to Mandhana. Beats her outside edge with a good one. Then pitches up and swings it again, but the line is starting on leg stump, and is clipped away for two. When Perry corrects the line, she beats the edge again as Mandhana drives. Australia’s field is really well set for Mandhana. The player out for the pull shot has saved a number of boundaries, and the field behind point is packed for her cut shot. She flays Perry over backward point, but it’s a risky shot, and only yields one run with a deep third in place.

6th over: India 37-0 (Mandhana 19, Verma 13) Shafali is swinging from the hip now against Brown. Moving around the crease. Hauls a shot over midwicket for four, then backs away so far that she misses a heave that was vaguely aimed towards deep third.

5th over: India 32-0 (Mandhana 18, Verma 9) Doesn’t mind width, Verma, and she flays away at Perry way outside off stump, toe-ending it over cover for two. The next ball though she’s hit! Perry drops short but it doesn’t get huge bounce, and Verma ducks into it, clipped off the back of the helmet through deep third for four extras. After some attention, Verma bails out of her next ball, pulling away. When she finally faces up again, Perry bowls her a full toss on the pads that she can pat behind square to get off strike. Then wide down leg to the left-hander, and short to Mandhana who cracks a pull shot again, this time finding deep square leg for one. Perry really struggling to land them.

4th over: India 23-0 (Mandhana 17, Verma 6) Both players happy to be watchful against Brown, given her wickets the other day. Verma takes a few balls to get off strike, then Mandhana ducks under the bouncer.

3rd over: India 22-0 (Mandhana 17, Verma 5) The boundaries keep coming! Perry bowls too full, too often. Verma through cover from the first ball of the over, then Mandhana driving a low full toss through point from the last ball.

2nd over: India 13-0 (Mandhana 13, Verma 0) Better contact from Mandhana when Darcie Brown drops short, a crisp cut shot to the point boundary. Then to end the over Brown strays down leg and Mandhana glances for four. She has all the runs so far.

1st over: India 5-0 (Mandhana 5, Verma 0) Mandhana goes from ball one! Perry bowls short three times in a row, and Mandhana goes pull, back-foot force, pull. Doesn’t nail any of them, but two, two, one, is a decent start for runs. Shafali Verma gets her first ball fuller, and there’s swing for Perry when she pitches up. Verma fiddles into the cordon, then gets beaten.

One change each. Off-spin all-rounder Sneh Rana makes way for left-armer Gayakwad. Rachael Haynes took a knock in the nets, but that won’t be enough for opener Georgia Redmayne to get a debut. Instead Beth Mooney comes up the order while seaming all-rounder Nicola Carey comes into the middle.

India Women
Shafali Verma
Smriti Mandhana
Yastika Bhatia
Mithali Raj *
Deepti Sharma
Richa Ghosh +
Pooja Vastrakar
Rajeshwari Gayakwad
Jhulan Goswami
Meghna Singh
Poonam Yadav

Australia Women
Beth Mooney
Alyssa Healy +
Meg Lanning *
Ellyse Perry
Ashleigh Gardner
Tahlia McGrath
Nicola Carey
Sophie Molineux
Georgia Wareham
Hannah Darlington
Darcie Brown

Same configuration, choosing to chase. Putting the pressure straight back on India’s batting. Setting a target has been a much weaker suit for India than chasing one in recent years.