Priya Punia’s valiant 76 not enough as Australia A win by 5 runs

Allan Border Field in Brisbane witnessed a very closely fought encounter between the travelling India A women and Australia A, with the home side emerging victorious by a fine margin of five runs. 

After being sent into bat by India A, Australia A had a fantastic start at the top of openers Katie Mack (39 off 31) and Tahlia Wilson (50 off 34), as both batted aggressively and notched up 49 runs in the powerplay itself. 

The India A women could only find a breakthrough in the 10th over when Saika Ishaque (3/33), bowling her second over, got Wilson stumped by wicketkeeper Uma Chetry. Ishaque, who has been out of the Indian senior T20I side post the 2024 edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL), was India’s best bowler on the day, and the Aussie batters couldn’t line her up easily. 

She proved that by dismissing the other opener, Mack, LBW, before getting skipper Tahlia McGrath to nick one to the wicketkeeper in the space of two deliveries. The pace bowling all-rounder from Mumbai, Sayali Satghare, was on song with her bowling and ably supported Ishaque by dismissing dangerous batters Charlie Knott (16 off 13) and Tess Flintoff (8 off 10) in the 15th over. 

At that point, Australia A were 116/5 in 15 overs, and a good show at the death with the ball would have ensured that India A would have chased a relatively lower target. However, that’s when Maddy Darke (23* off 16), a key batter for the Perth Scorchers in the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL), combined with another keeper batter, Nicole Faltum (25* off 16), as both of them took Australia to a strong total of 163. 

The Indian spinners were decent in the last few overs. However, pacer Meghna Singh, who has decent international experience, was errant and conceded 40 runs in her full quota of overs, with 19 of them coming in the last over. 

Coming in to chase 164 against an Australia A bowling attack full of quality pacers, India A didn’t start off on a great note. Openers Priya Punia and Shweta Sehrawat batted well in the first three overs against pacers Tayla Vlaemnick and Maitlan Brown. 

However, as soon as left-arm spinner Sophie Day (1/19) came on to bowl, Sehrawat played three dot balls in the first four deliveries she faced in the fourth over and was clean bowled on the fifth as she went to slog a length ball. By the end of the powerplay, the Indians were 39/1, much behind Australia's score in their first six. 

Coming in at number three, Chetry (7 off 9) could have given some more impetus to the Indian innings along with Punia, but she fell to pacer Brown, trying to pull a back of a length delivery over fine leg. 

Interestingly, Tanuja Kanwar came out to bat at number four. It might be a case of the senior side looking to explore her batting ceiling. Regardless of the inexplicable nature of the promotion, Kanwar made a sedate 22 off 20 after bowling her four overs for just 27 runs. 

However, regular wickets had impacted the run flow from one end. Despite some brilliant fours hit by Punia in the middle overs, India were only 106/3 at the end of 15 overs, needing 58 runs in the last five overs. 

Kiran Navgire, batting at five, announced her intentions on her second delivery itself, launching a half-volley from Brown over mid-wicket for a maximum. India continued the momentum in Vlaemnick’s next over, taking 11 runs in the 16th. However, spinner Day returned to bowl an economical over in the 17th, as India self-destructed, with Navgire getting run out after hitting the ball to the covers. 

The run out saga for India began there and ended with both Punia and Sajeevan Sajana getting run out in the space of three deliveries. Satghare came and struck two good boundaries, but in the end, the Indian women fell short of the target by a small margin of five runs. 

Punia was brilliant with the bat for India, consistently scoring boundaries and at a decent strike rate of 128.81. However, with Navgire and Sajana’s run outs, India hurt themselves badly in the last five overs, just like they did with the ball. 

Going into the second T20, scheduled for Friday (August 9), India A will look to rectify these errors. Meanwhile, Chetry and Navgire will have another chance to prove themselves worthy of a selection in the senior side that will travel to the World Cup. 

Brief scores:

Australia A 163/5 in 20 overs (Tahlia Wilson 50, Katie Mack 39; Saika Ishaque 3/33) beat India A 158/6 in 20 overs (Priya Punia 76, Tanuja Kanwar 22; Maitlan Brown 2/30) by 5 runs.

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