India vs Australia: With masterful run-chase led Ellyse Perry, world champions lay down the marker to take 1-0 lead in ODI series | Cricket News

When India went from 182/7 to 282/8 at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday, they regered their highest total against Australia in women’s ODIs. It didn’t seem probable for most part of India’s batting innings, but it was a fine recovery.Too bad then, that in front of them, are the undoubted champions of this format. Australia made it look like a stroll in the park as they regered the second-highest successful run-chase in women’s ODIs. Chasing 283, the world champions scored 285/4 in 46.3 overs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series with an emphatic six-wicket win.
No Lanning? No problem
That this is Australia’s first white-ball series since the official retirement of Meg Lanning is well known, and there were a few questions to Alyssa Healy about how big a captaincy legacy she was taking over from. But the one thing that shouldn’t be underestimated is the absence of Lanning, the batter who was some dance the best chaser in women’s ODIs. No one has scored more runs than in her in successful run-chases, and a whopping 10 out of her record 15 centuries came in those wins.

Australia win the 1st ODI 6 wickets.#TeamIndia will aim to bounce back in the next game 🙌
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/MDbv7Rm75J#INDvAUS | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/BeoV1pOidJ
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) December 28, 2023
And so Australia cruising to a win in Mumbai with plenty still left in the tank was a strong marker laid down Healy’s side. Ellyse Perry, batting at No 3, is an imperious chaser herself and showed that the transition is going to be smooth enough, playing a masterful attacking innings of 75. In a knock with eight fours and one six, she took the initiative away from India early, and never let them back.
Phoebe Litchfield, the 20-year-old earmarked for great things in a post-Lanning era, showed great cricketing smarts to take her time while Perry was on song. But she accelerated once she found her range too, finishing with 78 and walking away with the Player of the Match award. Then there was the thorn in Indian flesh. Beth Mooney and Tahlia McGrath have made it a habit to come together and put Indian bowling to the sword repeatedly in the recent past, and they made it a straightforward end to the evening with a 67-ball 88-run partnership.

Yes Pez! 👏 #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/Emon1IWk6p
— Australian Women’s Cricket Team 🏏 (@AusWomenCricket) December 28, 2023
Jemimah shines again
Having opted to bat first, India took the road less-travelled to a 280-plus total. First off, they had to do it without Smriti Mandhana, who missed the match due to illness. Then they lost Shafali Verma in the third over, as the batter continued to show a worrying inability to guard her stumps against the moving ball.
Despite largely scoring at a good rate (hovering between 4.50 and 5.0 runs per over), India kept losing regular wickets. Every time there was a partnership starting to build, Australia struck. It was over to Jemimah Rodrigues to keep one end going strong, and she played arguably her best ODI innings so far. Continuing her good form from the Tests, and battling exhaustion, she used the sweep and inside-out drives to good effect against Australia’s spinners to finish with 82, her second-highest score in this format.

ICYMI!@JemiRodrigues scored a terrific 82 off 77 and steered #TeamIndia to an impressive total 👏👏#INDvAUS | @IDFCFIRSTBank
Relive her knock here 🎥🔽https://t.co/aWt2i7ZCN7
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) December 28, 2023
Her eighth-wicket partnership with Pooja Vastrakar was the brightest spot of the day for India. While the possibility of India folding before 50 overs loomed large, they counter-attacked brilliantly with Vastrakar especially showing her power-hitting skills in the end.
India’s defence started off in fine fashion too but it would prove to be a red herring. One of the things that Amol Muzumdar said in his first press conference as India’s women’s team head coach was to see the side become better at fielding. It has long been Harmanpreet’s hope as the captain to see her side get better in that department.
In the first over of Australia’s innings, Renuka Singh Thakur dangled a carrot outside the off stump to Healy. A fast starter in the white-ball formats, Healy threw her bat at it and went for the expansive drive. The ball took the outside edge and went in the air, seemingly heading past the fielder at short third. But Sneh Rana had other ideas. She threw herself in the air and dived full length to complete a sensational catch.
But India’s fielding would actually turn out to be one of the problem areas as the intensity and quality dipped while the night went on. There were plenty of misfields while Australia managed to keep the scoreboard ticking with not much pressure from the bowlers.

A valuable FIFTY down the order from @Vastrakarp25 😎
And the Wankhede crowd is impressed 😃👌
Follow the Match ▶️ https://t.co/MDbv7Rm75J#INDvAUS | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/TCuLpXsvcd
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) December 28, 2023
Harmanpreet Kaur said after the match, “We managed to get a defendable total. Bowlers did their job but fielding didn’t work well. After a while dew was there, but bowlers did well to keep stumps in play. But I was unhappy with our fielding, Australia were amazing at saving runs while they fielded.”
After the rather comprehensive defeat in the Test, Healy was asked if she saw that result as perhaps some sort of indication that Aussie’s era of dominance could be under threat. “It’s not even a blip,” she had said, adding that the world is used to seeing them win so often that they perhaps go looking for such signs. “We’re playing some really good cricket – I’m not too concerned about where we’re at and I think these next six (white-ball) games probably give us a better indication about how we’re tracking, but also what we might need to improve on.”
And in the first of those matches, they have sent out a resounding reminder of who the bosses of this format still are.
Brief scores: India 282/8 in 50 overs (Rodrigues 82, Vastrakar 62 n.o, Bhatia 49, Wareham 2-55, Gardner 2-63) lost to Australia 285/4 in 46.3 overs (Perry 78, Litchfield 75, McGrath 68 n.o).