Women's T20 World Cup: India struggling against Australia after Mandhana, Verma, Kaur fall

The Indian women's team found itself in a tough situation as three wickets fell in quick succession in the opening match of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup in Sydney on Friday. Indian women lost Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma and captain Harmanpreet Kaur within a span of six runs. Currently, Deepti Sharma and Jemimah Rodrigues are on crease for the Indian eves. 

Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana were looking settled on the crease when Jess Jonassen got the first breakthrough for Australia in the fourth over. She trapped Mandhana (10) leg before the wicket. 

In the next over, 16-year-old Verma, whose attacking mode gave pace to the Indian scoreboard, followed Mandhana. Verma was caught by Annabel Sutherland in a Ellyse Perry delivery. Jonassen struck again in the next over as Indian skipper Kaur got off cheaply at 2 from 5 balls. 

Earlier in the day, Australia skipper Meg Lanning won the toss and elected to field against India. 

The match is crucial for India as the team will be aiming for much needed consistency in World Cup opener against defending champions Australia. Inconsistency has plagued India for a long time and a classic example was their performance in the recently held tri-series in Australia where they reached the final.

They won and lost a game against the more accomplished England and Australia before losing to the mighty hosts, who have won the T20 World Cup a record four times out of the six editions held so far.

Teams:

Australia: Alyssa Healy (wk), Beth Mooney, Ashleigh Gardner, Meg Lanning (c), Ellyse Perry, Rachael Haynes, Annabel Sutherland, Jess Jonassen, Delissa Kimmince, Molly Strano, Megan Schutt.

India: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Deepti Sharma, Veda Krishnamurthy, Shikha Pandey, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad.