Australia Women vs India Women Match Report: Australia won a thriller

Australia Women vs India Women Match Report: Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur's fifty and Renuka Singh's brilliant bowling display went in vein as Gardner scored fifty to end the hopes of 'Women in Blue'. Australia Women won the first match of the Commonwealth Games 2022 by 3 wickets as they chased down the target of 155 in the 19th over.

The Aussies grabbed their first win while India Women lost their opening encounter at Edgbaston, Birmingham on Friday, July 29.

Also Read: Commonwealth Games 2022: Full schedule and fixture of Women's Cricket matches

1st innings: Harmanpreet Kaur becomes the first woman to score a fifty in Commonwealth Games

After winning the toss Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur decided to bat first against the mighty Aussie side. The openers, Mandhana(24 off 17)) and Shafali started well as Shefali scored 47 runs off 33 balls before getting dismissed by Jess Jonasson. After that, captain Kaur single-handedly took the Women in Blue to a respectable total of 154/8 in 20 overs as Australia's bowling unit dominates again.

Harmanpreet Kaur scored fifty as she becomes the first Woman to score fifty in Commonwealth Games. For Australia, Jess Jonasson took 4 wickets in her four-over spell while Megan Schutt took two and Brown took one wicket. The rest of the bowlers went wicketless in this game.

Read Also: We are aiming for Gold Medal at the Commonwealth Games 2022: Smriti Mandhana

2nd Innings: Ash Gardner guided home the Aussies after Renuka Singh's brilliant opening spell

Coming to the chase, a strong opening pair of Australia, Healy(0) and Mooney(10) both failed as Renuka Singh joins the party. She picked up the wickets of the top four as they returned to the pavilion with a low score. Australia went down to 49/5 at a time but then Grace Harris(37 off 20) and Ash Gardner joined together to help the Aussies get over the line.

Gardner scored a half-century and finished the game while she remains not out on 52* off 35. Important contributions from Alana King with the bat also helped the side to reach the target.

For India, Renuka Singh returned with one of her best T20 figures of 4.0-0-18-4. Deepti Sharma took two wickets while Meghna took one. Bowling of Radha Yadav (42 in her 4 overs) and Meghna Singh(38 in her 4 overs) cost India the game. Australia chased down the target in the 19th over of their innings and grab their first victory.

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India women will face the Pakistan Women, while, Australia will face Barbados Women in their next encounter on Sunday, July 31st at the Edgbaston, Birmingham.