The commentary is not available for this match. Please check the scorecard for latest updates.
So that's all we have from Sportskeeda's coverage for the opening T20I. India have taken a 1-0 lead and will be very confident going into the next game on Sunday. Up until then, this is myself (Arya Sekhar Chakraborty) signing off also on behalf of my fellow commentator and good mate Rajarshi Das. Goodnight! Cheers!
Titas Sadhu (Player of the Match): This has been a tradition now that whoever wins the award have to give a party. Now I have got three prizes, I have to give triple party. It has been a long tour for me. I have been sitting out but as a professional, you have to be ready and I am happy to capitalize. I was lucky in the second over, again it was a good wicket to bowl on. Whatever the teams require I have to do that. I think obviously slower ones would have played a part. There was a lot of dew and luckily we won the toss.
Harmanpreet Kaur (India captain): I think we were upto the mark in all three departments. Fielding is something which we have been working hard on. Today everyone was pumped up and enjoying the fielding. Really pleased to see the fielding effort. Oh yes, credit goes to the fielding coach. She mentions that Jemi will stand at point. Those small changes he made during fielding, everyone know where they are fielding. We have got the result but we have to keep doing this consistently. We gave her so many chances in ODIs as well. You don't fell good but I asked my bowlers to keep hitting the right areas. It was a last moment change, I would like to give credit to the head coach. That is not something we have been doing. We back Titas as she delivered. Well we know they are a good side but the way our bowling unit was exceptional. In the next game as well, will look to continue the same thing.
Alyssa Healy, Australia captain: Not ideal. We didn't play well tonight. Left a lot out there with the bat, didn't start well with the ball either. Lots to work on for the next two games. A lot of early wickets cost us, but losing wickets in between cost us as well. Normally, we bank on two good partnerships to get us to a good total, but we couldn't quite get going and gain some momentum, that's all. The side we picked tonight bat till 9, we want to keep pushing big totals, and make sure we adjust to the conditions well enough. It would have been handy to have a bowl first, they landed it in the right areas and made it tricky for us. The wicket was sort of conducive to that, slid on later in the day for our spinners. We have to adjust to that, someone's got to bowl second. We've either got to put more on the board, or change things up, tactics-wise.
Right, time for the post-match presentations now.
Smriti Mandhana: The way the One Day series went, we were disappointed with ourselves. Really pleased we could get the first win on the board. Really happy with the way we bowled, especially from 330 runs in the last One Day to get them all out was an amazing effort. The last two days, we analyzed a lot as to what went wrong, as a team. We had a one-hour meeting and were really frank with what went wrong. To go with four seamers today paid off - Titas bowled really well today, we've seen a bit of her in the Asian Games, but bowling as good as she did today against a quality Australian team... really happy for her. She comes from Bengal, which has given us one legendary cricketer in Jhulu di (Jhulan Goswami). I think we shouldn't get into comparison, but she's really sorted for her age. She really knows where she wants to bowl, she will always come to you saying this is my field and this is where I want to bowl. To have as much clarity at this age is amazing to see. With that, good work ethics. Hope she continues to do that. (On whether coach Amol Muzumdar uses the word khadoos yet) Not yet, but I remember telling yesterday that don't be too soft with us, be as hard as you were with the Mumbai Ranji Team. He might start using the word 'khadoos' soon.
Match Summary: India beat Australia by 9 wickets with 14 deliveries to spare!
It turned out to be one of the most dominating performances by the Indian eves as they demolished Australia by 9 wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. It was an exceptional opening stand from Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma which made the run chase look ridiculously easy. The target of 142 didn't look a straightforward one, to be honest at the halfway stage but the Indian openers had other ideas. They batted superbly, coming out all guns blazing and went onto chase it down with 14 deliveries to spare.
Darcie Brown was all over the place in her first over and conceded 14 extras to begin the run chase. Smirti Mandhana didn't get anything from the middle of the bat but India wouldn't have mind, especially chasing a relatively low score. Shafali Verma began with an exquisite cover drive and it was just a sign of what was to come. Mandhana also got into her rhythm with a swipe across the line which carried all the way for a maximum and that opened things up for the home team. Both batters kept finding the boundaries consistently and raced off to 59/0 in the powerplay. The Australians were put off guard as they were not really ready for the brutal onslaught.
The good work continued even after the powerplay and the two openers didn't bog down with the fielding restrictions being lifted. None of the bowlers could settle into a rhythm and contain Smriti and Shafali as they kept working around the good deliveries and found the boundaries whenever anything short or overpitched deliveries were on offer. The massive stand of 137 runs ended in the 16th over over when Mandhana tried to finish the match with a six and found out the long on fielder. Jemimah Rodrigues took her time initially and eventually finished the game with her trademark sweep shot. Shafali remained unbeaten on 64 off 44 deliveries which included 6 fours and 3 sixes, taking India home at a canter. Mandhana scored 54 off 52 deliveries and the only wicket taker for Australia was Georgia Wareham.
And that is that! Rodrigues brings out her trademark sweep shot and India have similarly swept past Australia without breaking a sweat. One of the more dominating performances we've come to see from the Women in Blue and they go 1-0 up against the world champions!
17.4 Georgia Wareham to Jemimah Rodrigues, FOUR! India get there eventually! All those dot deliveries aren't quite ideal in a T20I run-chase against a quality side as this one - not today, though! Full, floated on middle and leg. Jemimah, down on one knee, nailed this one with the sweep, evaded the fielder at square leg, and the game was done once the ball hit the ropes! India go 1-0 in the 3-match T20I series with a 9-wicket win!
17.3 Georgia Wareham to Jemimah Rodrigues, on a length on middle and leg, Rodrigues glances this one towards square leg, but can't get the winning run once again