Sydney : A historic series triumph already sealed, the Indian women’s cricket team faltered in its quest for a clean-sweep as it went down by 15 runs to Australia in the third and final Twenty20 International following a spectacular batting collapse here today.
Chasing a victory target of 137, the Indians, who pocketed the series after winning the first two games, were comfortably placed at 94 for 3 in 13.3 overs before a middle-order collapse led them to end at 121 for 8 at the SCG.
The Indians scored just 27 runs from the last 6.3 overs and lost five wickets in the process to hand Australia a consolation win.
Opening batsman Vellaswamy Vanitha top-scored with a 25-ball 28, which was laced with three boundaries and a six, while Harmanpreet Kaur (24) was the next notable contributor as the Indians gathered runs at a brisk pace but at the same time, kept losing wickets.
The visiting side made a flying start by scoring 33 runs from 4.4 overs for the first wicket between Vanitha and captain Mithali Raj (12).
After two quick wickets, the Indians picked up the pace and were comfortably placed at 94 for 3 in the 14th over, needing roughly run-a-ball for a win at that stage.
But three quick wickets put paid to India’s hopes as Kaur, Auja Patil (3) and player-of-the-series Jhulan Goswami (1) were dismissed in the space of 2.3 overs and for the addition of just 10 runs. In fact, India lost two wickets in the 16th over that ultimately made the difference in the match.
From a run-a-ball situation, India needed 27 from the last two overs and 23 from the final over. They could not accomplish the task though the Indians will return home with their head held high after their historic feat of winning their maiden series over mighty Australia.
For Australia, Ellyse Perry produced an all-round show to deny India a cleansweep. She hit an unbeaten 55 after Australia were put into bat before claiming 4/12 in the Indian run chase.
Pacer Goswami was economical in her four overs, giving away 21 runs in her four overs while Rajeshwari Gayakwad claimed two wickets for 36 runs. Medium pacer Deepti Sharma (1/19) was also impressive in her T20 debut.
Earlier, Australia posted 136/5 as Goswami’s excellent bowling and visiting side’s sharp work on the field again made life difficult for the hosts.