Star batter Smriti Mandhana, the architect of India’s win against Australia in the second women’s T20I on Sunday (December 11), described the game as one of the most entertaining matches she has been part of. India won the match via Super Over after the scores were tied at 187 to level the five-match series 1-1.

Smriti’s message at Post Match

“Happy to see such wickets prepared for women’s cricket, you’ll get high scores, high run chases. I think this is one of the most entertaining games we’ve all been a part of,” Mandhana said at the post-match presentation.

“When they were batting, I realised it was an amazing wicket, I had my eyes on a big score. Didn’t want to make the same mistake as the last innings,” said Mandhana, who was named player of the match for her 79 off 49 balls.

India captain Harmanpreet Kaur said her players learnt a lot from the previous game which the home side lost by nine wickets.

“We backed ourselves. If someone could get a bit more, then we could have got even 200. So that was the plan today, to back ourselves,” Kaur concluded said.

What happened in the match?

Tahlia McGrath (70 not out off 51) and Beth Mooney (82 not out off 54) tore into the Indian bowling attack with their belligerent knocks to power Australia 187 for one after the visitors were asked to bat. In front of a packed D Y Patil Stadium, India were able to take the match right down to the wire after a whirlwind 76-run opening wicket stand between Mandhana (79 off 49) and Shafali Verma (34 0ff 23). In the end the contest ended in a stalemate, and it needed a Super Over to decide the contest.

More than 47, 000 fans in attendance

The women’s game on Sunday was witnessed by 47, 000 fans according to a tweet from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The encounter played at the Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium saw the crowd treated to the entertainment of highest quality as the match went to Super Over.

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