India’s batting suffered a massive collapse in their T20 International tri-series match against Australia at the Manuka Oval in Canberra on Sunday.
Asked to bat first after Australia won the toss and elected to bowl, India lost Shafali Verma (5) and Jemimah Rodrigues (1) with just 16 runs on the board. But opener Smriti Mandhana got together with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur to add 40 runs for the third wicket.
India were still in with a chance of posting a competitive total when Mandhana was dismissed for 35 in the 10th over, but a sensational batting collapse a few overs later put the match firmly in favour of the hosts.
Kaur (28), Veda Krishnamurthy (8), Taniya Bhatia (0), Deepti Sharma (0) and Arundhati Redddy (4) all got out in a span of 10 deliveries as India went from 78/3 at the start of the 14th over to 82/6 in 14.4 overs. They eventually finished with 103/9 in their 20 overs.
It was veteran all-rounder Ellyse Perry and Tayla Vlaeminck who did the damage for Australia. Right-arm fast bowler Perry continued her fine form and finished with brilliant figures 4/13 from her four overs. Vlaeminck, also a right-arm medium-pacer, returned with 3/13 from her four overs.
Watch India’s batting collapse here: