Australia Makes A Timely Comeback To Beat India In the First Cricket Match Of Commonwealth Games

Australia made a thrilling comeback to recover 49-5 and beat India by three wickets in an entertaining first women’s Twenty20 cricket match at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

At Edgbaston, Harmanpreet Kaur scored 52 off 34 balls and Shafali Verma scored 48 runs in 33 balls to help India’s 154-8 runs.

Smriti Mandhana (25 off 17 balls) also got off to a good start but could not convert it into a big innings. Left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen (4/22) was the pick of the Australian bowlers. Australia chased down the target of 155 with one over remaining. Ashleigh Gardner scored an unbeaten 52 off 35 balls for Australia.

Renuka Singh took four wickets for 18 runs for India, while Deepti Sharma took two wickets. Meghna Singh gets a single wicket.

Australian team is the world champion in this format of cricket, having defeated India in the T20 World Cup final in 2020 and in Semi final of 2022 50 overs World Cup semi final.

Meanwhile, England captain Heather Knight will miss her team’s first match against Sri Lanka on Saturday due to a hip injury but is hopeful that she will be fit for her second match against South Africa on Tuesday.