Auckland: Rain interrupted play as Australia needed 53 more runs to win in 54 balls. Australia opener Alyssa Healy scored a remarkable fifty but was soon dismissed by Sneh Rana for 72 runs while Rachael Haynes also departed for 43 runs in their bid to chase 278 runs vs India in the ongoing Women’s World Cup at Eden Park in Auckland.
Skipper Meg Lanning continued the good work as she completed her fifty in 56 balls while Ellyse Perry also supported her well and played cautiously. Earlier, Harmanpreet Kaur and Pooja Vastrakar propelled India’s score to 277/7 after some hard-hitting towards the end of the innings against Australia. Kaur remained unbeaten on 57 while Vastrakar got out on the last ball of the innings as she scored 34 runs off 28 balls.
Earlier, India got off to a poor start after being put in to bat first by skipper Meg Lanning. Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma both departed with India reeling at 28/2. India recovered from two early wickets thanks to a steady partnership between Mithali and Yastika as the duo added 130 runs for the third wicket. However, half-centuries from Yastika Bhatia (59) and Mithali Raj (68) helped India recover in the middle-overs and laid down a perfect platform for the batter to hit towards the end.