‘A learning procedure for us’ – Harmanpreet Kaur

It was trademark ruthlessness on display from the Australians as they beat India by 36 runs in the fourth match the women’s Twenty20 International tri-series at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Monday 26 March.

Having already lost their first two games, India got off to an excellent start by reducing Australia to 29/2 inside the first four overs. But Beth Mooney and Elyse Villani dug their heels in and put up a 114-run stand for the third wicket in a shade over 11 overs to help Australia storm back into the contest.

Mooney slammed 71 in just 46 deliveries while Villani stroked an equally fluent 42-ball 61 as the visitors racked up 187/5 in their 20 overs. Megan Schutt then claimed a hat-trick spread over two overs with the wickets of Smriti Mandhana, Mithali Raj and Deepti Sharma to derail the chase early.

Meg Lanning, the Australia captain, was pleased with the way her side bounced back after a crushing eight-wicket loss in the previous game against England.

“It was a pretty good all-round performance,” said Lanning after the match. “Batting first, you have to put a big score out there and I think we did that reasonably well. You would always like a few more. Little bit of improvement in the field (is needed), but generally pretty happy.

“I think we wanted to get to the 180-200-run mark. It's not about going out there and whacking from the first ball, you still need to build and play good cricket shots. Elyse Villani and Beth Mooney did that really well and set us up really nicely.”

At 26/3 and with three top batters back in the shed, it was always going to be a steep climb for India. Jemimah Rodrigues (50) and Harmanpreet Kaur (33) tried their bit with a 54-run stand for the fourth wicket. Rodrigues looked the part as she scored a maiden T20I half-century, but India were always behind the eight-ball.

A dejected Harmanpreet lamented the early loss of wickets, which led to India being knocked out of the tournament.

“We wanted to bowl first today because in the last two games we batted, but we gave too many runs extra which we did not account for,” said the India captain. “Batting as well, we did not utilise the first six overs. Still, it is a learning procedure for us.

“We needed support from the young girls which they gave, the seniors also did their bit. But we need fit players in the team and when we go for the next tournament we need fit players who can run all across the ground.”

Schutt, who became the first Australian to claim a hat-trick in the shortest format of the game, finished with 3/31. It was a good comeback for the Australian right-arm seamer after going for 30 runs in her three overs in the previous outing against England.

“I didn't know I got a hat-trick, maybe that is why it ended up being an alright ball,” joked Schutt. “(With Mandhana) I just wanted to hit the toes, somehow the ball hit the stumps. Our plans were pretty simple. We wanted to defend the score and we bowled well here.”

The next match in the series will be played between Australia and England on Wednesday 28 March.