Hancock and Parsons shine as India A lose two in a row

The Indian A women’s tour of Australia isn’t going the visitor’s way so far. After losing the close encounter in the first T20 by five runs, the Minnu Mani-led side was clinically outplayed by the Aussies in the second game and lost the second T20 by eight wickets. 

Australia A won the toss and elected to field first after making two changes in their squad — pacers Tayla Vlaemnick and Maitlan Brown were replaced by leg spinner Grace Parsons and quick Nicola Hancock. Both Vlaemnick and Brown didn’t do much wrong in the first T20. However, Australia A has a lot of depth in its squad, and hence, they decided to give A-side debuts to Parsons and Hancock, and both didn’t disappoint at all. 

Hancock got opener Shweta Sehrawat, who was starting to look dangerous after nailing a pull shot towards square leg. She bowled it short as the batter stepped down the track, got the edge, and keeper Nicole Faltum made a fantastic catch. Parsons, an integral part of the Brisbane Heat squad in the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL), got the key wicket of the other opener, Priya Punia, who has proved to be the best Indian batter on this tour so far. 

India also changed their batting order, with Raghvi Bisht, an all-rounder from Uttarakhand, batting at number three and Sajana at number four. Both couldn’t make much of this promotion and departed for just 15(16) and 9(9), respectively. 

Parsons and Hancock were relentless with their bowling plans at this stage, and Indian wickets kept falling regularly. Uma Chetry (11 off 12) and Kiran Navgire (12 off 10) looked good while attacking, but Parsons ended their innings and India’s hope of a big finish. Skipper Minnu scored 17* off 13 to take India to 130/9 at the end of 20 overs, which was nowhere near par for the Australia A women. 

Questions could be raised about the instability created by changes in the batting order, but there was no doubt that the release shots played by batters in the middle order weren’t effective enough. When the opposition started to bat, they showed how it was to be done at the Allan Border Field. 

While pacer Meghna Singh dismissed Katie Mack (8 off 7) early, the other opener, Tahlia Wilson, continued her superb form and thrashed 53* off just 46 deliveries. Charli Knott, batting at three, also looked in good touch but mishit an incoming delivery from Minnu to get caught by Sajana in the covers. Skipper Tahlia McGrath came with intentions to hit everything that was there to be hit, and smashed five fours and a six in her 47* off 38 to take Australia home by eight wickets. 

While Sayali Satghare (0/24) was overall economical and bowled to her plans, left-arm spinner Tanuja Kanwar was off-colour and leaked 31 runs in just three overs as she bowled on the pads and short often. Skipper Minnu looked to be India’s best bowler on the day. However, it was clear that overall, as a bowling attack, the lack of penetration hurt India badly. The eight-wicket defeat was a foregone conclusion. 

With these two wins on the trot, Australia A will look to continue the momentum in the third T20, which will be played on August 11 in Brisbane. After that, both sides will move to Mackay for the three 50-over games.

Brief Scores: 

India A women 130/9 in 20 overs (Priya Punia 29, Minnu Mani 17; Grace Parsons 4/30) beat Australia A women 133/2 in 18.2 overs (Tahlia Wilson 53, Tahlia McGrath 47; Meghna Singh 1/20) by 8 wickets.

If you’ve not downloaded the Cricket.com app yet, you’re missing out — big time. Play Fantasy on Cricket.com NOW! Download the App here.