Ahead of the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023, Harmanpreet Kaur-led Team India suffered a 44-run defeat against Australia in a warmup match on Monday here at Newlands.

As so often, Australia’s depth came to the fore as they got out of a hole to beat India by a comfortable margin.

In reply, India quickly slumped to 22 for four. Darcie Brown claimed three wickets in her first two overs, while Ash Gardner’s off-spin also picked up a pair of wickets. As a result of Brown’s early barrage, India stumbled to 22/4.

Deepti Sharma’s 19* was the best from an Indian batting standpoint, though could not find a partner to join her in a last-gasp comeback.

Earlier, a returning Shikha Pandey made a similar impression to Brown, removing Meg Lanning for a duck, before taking the scalp of Tahlia McGrath for just two. To compound matters, Ellyse Perry was run out cheaply for Australia’s third, as Beth Mooney and Gardner attempted to rescue the innings.

Mooney’s 28 helped the cause, as well as Gardner who fell as Australia’s fourth wicket, with Pooja Vastrakar claiming the all-rounder. Shikha Pandey claimed the figures of two for nine including Meg Lanning and Tahlia McGrath’s wickets.

India looked to have cornered Australia at 79/8, only for Wareham and Jonassen to put on 50 inside five overs. Australia finished 129/8 from their 20 overs after at one stage struggling at 10/3. It took a ninth-wicket stand of 50 between Georgia Wareham (32 not out) and Jess Jonassen (22 not out) to take them to a respectable 129 for eight.