IND W VS AUS W 1ST T20I

Right then, that is it from this one-sided affair where India Women takes an early lead in the series and will look to seal it in the next game while the Aussies will hope to come back stronger and level it. The 2nd T20I will be played on 7th January, Sunday at 7 pm IST (1.30 pm GMT), but as you know, you can always join us early for all the build-up to the game. Until then, cheers and goodbye!

Titas Sadhu is the PLAYER OF THE MATCH for her amazing bowling performance. She says that it has been a tradition as whoever wins these awards has to give a party. Tells that as she has won all three awards, she has to give a triple part now. Adds that it has been a long tour for her and she was professional and waited for her chance and is happy to capitalise on it. Mentions that it was a good wicket to bowl on but she got a bit lucky in the second over when she got two wickets. Ends by saying that the slower ones help but there was a lot of dew in the second innings and she says they got lucky winning the toss.

Harmanpreet Kaur, the victorious skipper of India Women says that they were up to the mark in all three departments. States that fielding was something they have been working hard on and she is happy to see that they are getting the results. Credits the fielding coach for his decision to keep Jemimah Rodrigues at point looking at Australia's ability to hit square. On Litchfield's dropped catch, she says that they gave her many chances in the ODI series as well but the talk was to keep bowling in the right areas despite the error. Shares that it was a last-minute decision by the Head Coach to go in with four seamers which worked out for them. Feels that Australia will come hard at them in the next game and they will have to repeat this bowling performance.

Alyssa Healy, the captain of Australia Women says it is not ideal and they did not play very well. Tells that they left a lot out there with the bat and did not start well as well. Adds that losing early wickets did not help but losing wickets throughout also made it difficult. Mentions that normally they rely on good partnerships in the middle to set up a good total but credits the Indian bowlers for hitting the right lengths which did not let them gain momentum. Says that the side they picked for this game bat till 9, and admits it would have been handy to have an extra bowler. Ends by saying that they have to adjust to the conditions here quickly and either put up more runs on the board or change their tactics.

Presentation Time...

Smriti Mandhana is up for a quick chat. She says that she is pretty pleased with the win. Mentions that they were disappointed with the way the ODI series went. States that they were working on themselves in the last couple of days. Shares that they are really happy with the way they bowled. Further adds that from getting hit for 330-odd runs to bowling Australia out in a T20 game was a wonderful effort. Also says that they analysed what went wrong as a unit in the last couple of days and the decision to go with four seamers also helped. On Titas Sadhu's performance, she replies that she is very happy for her and Bengal has already given them a legendary cricketer in Jhulan Goswami. Adds that she does not get into comparison but Titas' work ethic and clarity are pleasing to see. Ends by saying that she remembers telling the head coach, Amol Muzumdar, to not be soft on us and to be as hard as he was during his time with the Mumbai Ranji team.

Earlier in the game, Australia Women posted a below-par total, and that too because of a couple of good knocks from Phoebe Litchfield who fell one short of her fifty while Ellyse Perry made crucial 37 runs or else they could have been bundled under 100. Titas Sadhu was the star with the ball for India with a spectacular four-fer while Shreyanka Patil and Deepti Sharma picked up a couple each. Renuka Singh and Amanjot Kaur also chipped in with a wicket each. While chasing, the Indian openers made batting look easy and the dew factor also helped them as they almost finished the job themselves, but they still finished the job losing only one wicket.

Australia Women, on the other hand, would have hoped for a better effort from their bowlers. Darcie Brown gave away 14 runs in extras in the first over from which they never really recovered. They had no answers to the onslaught of the Indian openers and were taken to the cleaners by them. They also let go of a few opportunities in the middle, but the game was long gone by then. Georgia Wareham was the only shining light for them and got the solitary wicket.

India Women got off to an absolute flier as both openers went bang bang right from the start. They were helped by the visitors giving away extras for free but once they got into their groove, there was no stopping them and they bossed the Powerplay. They continued with the same momentum throughout this chase and did not let the bowlers settle. Although both of them got a bit lucky on a couple of occasions other than that, it was easy peasy for them. They also registered the highest opening partnership for India Women against Australia Women in T20Is and in the process also notched up their respective fifties as well. Mandhana did get out on 54 trying to finish things off, but Varma stayed unbeaten on 64 and Jemimah Rodrigues hit the winning runs to register a 9-wicket win with 14 balls to spare as well.

INDIA WOMEN GO 1-0 UP IN THE SERIES! After a disappointing ODI series, this is a great comeback from the hosts. It was complete domination by the Women in Blue from the very first ball. Their bowlers set up this win while the batters made sure that their hard work did not go to waste and sealed a comprehensive victory. This is also only the second time that India Women have defeated Australia Women on home soil in this format.

FOUR! Jemimah Rodrigues hits the winning runs! Georgia Wareham offers flight, full and outside off, Jemimah Rodrigues gets down on one knee and reaches out in front to execute the sweep. She rolls her wrists to control the sweep and hits it to the left of short square leg and the deep mid-wicket fielder stands no chance to cut it off. India Women win by 9 wickets and go 1-0 up in the series!

Shortens her length and bowls it on middle, Jemimah Rodrigues reads it well and nudges it to short square leg.

Floats it up again, on off, Jemimah Rodrigues lunges and drives along the ground but can't pierce the in-field on the off side.

Scores level now! Tosses it right up, on off, Shafali Verma skips down the track and drills it hard to long off for a single.

Full and sliding onto the pads, Jemimah Rodrigues rolls her wrists to clip it away but misses out to get hit on the front pad. India Women need just 2 runs!

Keeps it full and on off from over the wicket, Jemimah Rodrigues drives it with a straight bat but picks out the fielder at mid off.

On a fullish length, on off, Jemimah Rodrigues squeezes it out to cover.