Chesterfield, July 2: In a thrilling finish to the third ODI of the tournament, Australia beat India by three wickets at Queen’s Park here in Chesterfield.
Chasing 216 to win, Australia reached their target off the last ball of the match. Opener Shelly Nitschke kept Australia in the hunt contributing to two crucial partnerships. Her opening stand with Meg Lanning was worth 52 runs while her second-wicket partnership with Leah Poultan added 69 runs. Her 78-run innings was brought to end by Indian skipper Jhulan Goswami who dismissed Jess Cameron soon after. A little later, Lisa Shatlekar who replaced Cameron, was trapped lbw by Gouhar Sultana. With three quick wickets, Australia were floundering at 165 for five. But Jodie Fields (11 off 22 balls) and Sarah Coyte (17 runs) saw them through in the end.
Indian bowlers Goswami, Sultana and Ekta Bisht finished with two wickets each.
Earlier, opting to bat first, India lost two early wickets. But, the 75-run partnership between Poonam Raut (60 runs) and Mithali Raj (49 runs) helped India set Australia a respectable target. Harmanpreet Kaur, who came to the crease after Raj was bowled by Nitschke, added a valuable 31 runs. Veda Krishanmurthy (14 runs) and Amita Sharma (18 runs) contributed crucial runs to the total before the Indian innings was wrapped up with two balls to spare.
Nitschke and Coyte claimed three wickets apiece while Clea Smith picked two wickets for Australia.
Brief score: India 215 all out in 49.4 overs (P Raut 60, M Raj 49, S Coyte 3/38, S Nitschke 3/46) lost to Australia 216/7 in 50 overs (S Nitschke 78, L Poultan 34, G Sultana 2/30) by 3 wickets
Man-of-the-Match: S Nitschke for a match-winning 78 runs and three wickets.
