(Cricket news) India women were convincingly defeated by Australia in the 1st warm up of the Women’s T20 World Cup. India women would be disappointed with the result even though it is just a warm up game. Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh returned to the squad to spend some time in the middle but neither could score significant runs with the willow. Australian skipper Meg Lanning won the toss and elected to bat first as she opened the batting herself. Harmanpreet Kaur on the other hand was the only Indian batter who did not come out to bat apart from all-rounder Devika Vaidya. 

India got off to an incredible start with the ball as Shikha Pandey picked up two wickets. The Aussies were 79/8 in the 16th over as Pooja Vastrakar and Radha Yadav got 2 wickets each while Rajeshwari Gayakwad got a scalp. Georgia Wareham and Jess Jonassen put together a 50 run partnership to get to a total of 129. India’s bowling performance was pretty good, Shikha Pandey getting back amongst the wickets was good news. But it is once again the death overs which is proving to be the problem. Chasing a mere total of 129, India women were bowled out for 86 inside 15 overs. Deepti Sharma and Harleen Deol were the only batters to get double digit scores.

Death bowling and losing wickets in quick succession has always been India’s problem. The performance is definitely a concern but the warm up games don’t determine the result of the tournament. India women had lost their first warm up game in the 2017 ODI World Cup but they ended up reaching the finals. Now India women need to focus on the next match against Bangladesh before kicking off the tournament. The women in blue are in a group with England, Ireland, Pakistan and West Indies as the top 2 will qualify for the semi finals.

Also read: Australia to be without Green, Hazelwood and Starc for opening Test