Australia registered a thumping five-wicket win over India in the first ODI of the three-match series at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane on Thursday, December 5.
Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and opted to bat first, but her batters failed to live up to their potential. The Australian bowlers exerted a lot of pressure by bowling tight lines and lengths and the Indian batters couldn’t rotate strike let alone hit boundaries. Openers Smriti Mandhana and Priya Punia were dismissed inside the first powerplay as Megan Schutt got the better of both the experienced batters. The tourists couldn’t recover after this as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
Harleen Deol (19), Harmanpreet (17), and Jemimah Rodrigues (23) got off to starts but couldn’t covert them into substantial scores. The explosive Richa Ghosh also perished for a 35-ball 14 as the Aussie bowlers ruled the roost. India needed contributions from their lower-order batters but that wasn’t to be. Eventually, the Asian nation was dismissed for 100 in 34.2 overs. Schutt was the pick of the bowlers as she finished with her best ODI figures of 5/19 in 6.2 overs.
In reply, the home side got off to a dazzling start as openers Phoebe Litchfield and Georgia Voll played some exhilarating shots. The young duo stitched a 48-run stand from 41 balls to rattle the Indian bowlers. Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney, Annabel Sutherland, and Ashleigh Gardner were dismissed for single-digit scores as the Aussies lost half their side with four runs left to win. Hosts’ skipper Tahlia McGrath finished the match with a boundary off Titas Sadhu.
Debutant Voll finished unbeaten on 46 off 42 balls, hitting six boundaries and a solitary six. Meanwhile, Renuka Singh and Priya Mishra bagged three and two wickets, respectively. Australia needed just 16.2 overs to win the match.
Here’s how ‘X’ users reacted to Australia’s thumping win versus India in first ODI:
WCup match probably b/w Ind vs Aus can’t think of anything else but not sure if it was on March 😅
— Juggernaut (@AlexHales2001) December 5, 2024
Australia win by five wickets.
Georgia Voll finishes with 46* on debut 👏#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/TR6m78JBEz
— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) December 5, 2024
Comfortable Win for Australia! 🎯
Chasing 101, they finish it off in just 16.2 overs!#CricketTwitter #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/GeeqG159iY
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) December 5, 2024
Best ODI bowling figure against IND-W. (Runs/Wickets)
10/6 – Jackie Lord (NZ)
10/5 – Rachel Pullar (NZ)
19/5 – Ellyse Perry (AUS)
19/5 – Megan Schutt (AUS), Today#AUSWvINDW #AUSWvsINDW
— Vishwesh Gaur (@iumvishwesh) December 5, 2024
– India women 100 all out
– Australia women 102-5
Australia women win the first ODi match against India women by 5 Wickets.#INDvAUS #AUSvsIND #auswvindw pic.twitter.com/IH6nTYepW5
— 78 Crickets (@78Crickets) December 5, 2024
India did well without many of its regulars (Yastika Bhatia, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Hemalatha), especially in bowling. But they clearly need to step up with their batting in remaining games to give a fight to the World Champs #auswvindw
(3/3)
— Ambika (@apmahapatra) December 5, 2024
🚨Australia Women won by 5 wkts
-INDW 100(34.2)
-AUSW 102/5(16.2)
🚨Georgia Voll, on debut, was the standout performer with 46* from 42.👏
Phoebe Litchfield 35 (29)
Five for Megan Schutt🏆
Australia vs India – 1st ODI #AUSWvINDW #MeganSchutt #SmritiMandhana #HarmanpreetKaur pic.twitter.com/BBBBEmNOvt
— Mandeep Singh (@Mandeep940) December 5, 2024
#India 🇮🇳 Women : 100 (34.2 ov)#Australia 🇦🇺 Women : 102/5 (16.2 ov)
Australia won by 5 wickets
Player of the match : Megan Schutt (Australia)
1stODI #AUSWvINDW 🏏🏆️ pic.twitter.com/Rgpnwe0eCp
— Ishara (@Ishara23032) December 5, 2024