India Women vs Australia Women 3rd T20I: Smriti Mandhana, Shreyanka Patil star at Adelaide Oval as India clinch T20I leg 2-1

AND INDIA WIN THE T20I LEG OF THE MULTI-FORMAT SERIES 2-1! And take a 4-2 points lead with the ODIs and Test to come. With the T20 World Cup not far away, India make a statement in Australia. A superb win. Deepti closes it out with a 9-run over.

INDIA WIN BY 17 RUNS AND CLINCH T20Is 2-1

What a return to the XI for Shreyanka Patil. 3/22 from her fours overs.

Australia need 33 from the last 2 overs with Garth and Brown in the middle.

Shreyanka Patil comes in to bowl her last over, required rate is 13.33.

WOW, what has happened there? Grace Harris hits a sweep for four. But has hit the stumps with her backfoot.

Grace Harris hit wicket b Sree Charani 1 (2 balls)

Screengrab:: JioHotstar

A 42-ball half century for Garder and after the start she had, this is turning into a superb knock. Gets there with a four through fine leg as Arundhati strays on the pads.

DROPPED AGAIN! As we said earlier, Renuka Singh is not the best of catchers in this Indian lineup and she puts one down at short cover as Sutherland leanded into a drive. Still a good over from Shreyanka, slowed it up nicely and didn't give pace to work with.

Required rate is exactly 12.00 now.

BREAKTHROUGH! Not the best delivery that Arundhati would bowl, but Wareham can only find the fielder at deep midwicket off a full toss.

Georgia Wareham c Amanjot Kaur b Arundhati Reddy 12 (14 balls)

Meanwhile, earlier in the over a four that sounded good off Gardner's bat and she is starting to move through the gears. Full on the stumps, Gardner crunches it past the fielder deep midwicket. But misses out on a rank full toss later in that over. Reddy however strikes off the last ball.

Deepti Sharma comes in, req'd rate at 10.66.

DROPPED! Oh dear, how much will that cost India? A poor over from Amanjot, could have a great ending. But she puts Gardner down off her bowling off the last ball. Started the over with a gift on Gardner's pads that was put away for four and her line was too leg side right through.

The rain is falling at Adelaide Oval DLS par score is 88 at 9.5 overs according to the commentators. And it would have shot up had Amanjot taken the catch off the last ball. Such a gun fielder otherwise, that was poor for her standards.

Australia need 99 runs from the last 10 overs.

FOUR AND OUT! Litchfield brings out that outrageous switch hit at the start of Sree Charani's over, that nearly goes all the way through point region and then falls just short of the rope. She goes for that right-hander sweep once more, but this time the angle from Sree Charani forces the shot to go towards long off where Shafali takes the simplest of catches.

Phoebe Litchfield c Shafali Verma b Sree Charani 26 (17 balls)

After that LBW appeal, Garder was on 5 off 14 balls. A horror start from the big-hitting allrounder but she seems to be finding her zone now. A couple of doubles into the deep pockets of the Oval and then smacks a crisp cut through covers for her first boundary. She can be a slow starter but can go big if she bats deep. This is a massive partnership for Australia's chances. They are still very much in this.

Required rate is 9.46 at the moment.

Deepti Sharma comes in to the attack and starts her spell with three dot balls to Gardner. So that's 8 dot balls in a special of 9 deliveries from India in the powerplay. Litchfield though, won't get bogged down and as long as she is out there, playing those reverse sweeps that she has mastered, Australia will believe. A boundary to end the powerplay but India would be otherwise delighted with.

SHREYANKA STRIKES AGAIN! Ellyse Perry called Shreyanka Patil 'a special star for the future' during WPL 2023. And today, in her 350th international, Perry is bowled by Shreyanka Patil. Lovely loop, late turn and Perry's attempted big shot down the ground is a swing and miss. The turn did Perry in. She is delighted.

This was Perry during WPL 2023: "Super young and to see her bat the way she does and the bowling talent. She is a special star for future. I haven't seen someone like that of her age around the world for a long time with that skill and attitude.

ANOTHER WICKET! Sree Charani is not India's best catchers either, but like Renuka, she manages to hold on to this one. Renuka is the bowler this time, Mooney goes for a pick-up shot over square leg, and Charani takes this ath deep square leg. Renuka has a mini redemption after that horror first over.

A terrific first over from Shreyanka, just two runs and the huge wicket of Voll.

WHAT A START FOR AUSTRALIA! An 18-run first over. Voll goes for the ramp first ball, misses it, and then smashes the second ball down the ground for six. Lovely swing of the bat. Renuka bowls a couple of wides and then Mooney gets going with a four through midwicket.

Three runs and three wickets in the final over, that is fantastic again from Annabel Sutherland, who is such a good bowler in this format. Deepti Sharma goes for a big shot, slower ball again, no timing and she is run out coming back for two.

Deepti Sharma run out (Ellyse Perry/Beth Mooney) 1 (1 ball)

Jemimah's long vigil comes to an end, as she tries to go down the ground, attempting a lofted shot over mid off. But Ellyse Perry, the tall athlete that she is, takes a really good high catch.

Great start to the last over from Sutherland.

Jemimah Rodrigues c Ellyse Perry b Annabel Sutherland 59 (46 balls)

Richa tries go aerial square of the wicket on offside again and mistimes this one. The skipper strikes for Australia. But a fine cameo from Richa there.

Richa Ghosh c Georgia Voll b Sophie Molineux 18 (7 balls)

Rodrigues continues to struggle to find the boundaries, she was off to such a good start but this slowdown has been significant. She is on 48 off 39 balls.

But Richa Ghosh, who struggled big time for timing in Canberra, hits her second ball of this innings for a six over long on. Superb slog sweep, picked up the slower ball from Sutherland. So that over started and ended with a six.

The commentators are talking about the possibility of retiring out Rodrigues here as she continues to struggle to find the boundary. Lisa Sthalekar is on air, who was of course part of the UP Warriorz set up that retired Harleen Deol out during the WPL recently.

Mandhana found a four in that over, good sweep shot off Garth. But Australia would be delighted with a 7 run over at this stage. Mandhana leaves two deliveries in that over outside off, not good judgement of line, she had to go for her shots there, but this slowdown is more on Rodrigues.

MANDHANA GOES BIG! A second six off this innings for Mandhana, takes on Gardner (who has had her number often in the past) to hit a lovely sweep shot that lands on the rope. A 11-run over.

The 100-run stand comes up but Rodrigues needs to find her hitting groove here, she is only rotating the strike which is alright but the boundary-hitting pressure is all on Mandhana at the moment.

A 38-ball half century for Smriti Mandhana, who was struggling to get her strike rate going early in the innings. And that shot to get to the landmark shows how well she is seeing the ball at the moment. Slot ball from Darcie Brown, and Mandhana smashes a pickup shot over square leg for six. 89m. Superb sound off the bat.

Good over for India, 100 comes up.

Skipper Sophie Molineux in the attack after a drinks break. Will we see a shift in gears from India?

India are not getting bogged down today after the powerplay, lesson learned evidently from Canberra. The 50-run partnership comes up in that over as Wareham comes into the attack. Jemimah plays that favourite sweep shot of hers, superbly placed between the two fielders in the field for four. Mandhana tries to take on Wareham down the ground, nearly gets the lofted on drive for four, but Elllyse Perry, brilliant as ever in the outfield, gets across to stop it from going for four.

Oh, that was close. Annabel Sutherland into the attack, and she nearly foxes her DC teammate. Rodrigues completely misreads a slower ball that Sutherland is so good at. But luckily for her, she got bat on it. Back of the bat it seems. And that saves her from a plumb LBW.

Meanwhile, here's a look at the field dimensions for the match at Adelaide Oval.

Screengrab: JioHotstar

And also, during the course of that 5th over, Rodrigues reaches the 2500-run milestone. The fourth Indian to achieve the feat in women's T20Is.

An utterly strange review from Australia. In Canberra, they managed to pull a rabbit out of the hat when reviewing against Mandhana, a game-changing moment as she was strangled down the leg side. But here, it appeared strange from the word go, as Mandhana swept Gardner down the leg side and it is nowhere close to LBW. Mandhana, though, is appearing edgy in the middle, mistiming a few of her attempted big shots (one such falls short of the fielder at mid on), but does manage to get one over extra cover for a lofted four. That will give her some confidence.

AUSTRALIA STRIKE EARLY! Four and out for Shafali Verma. Garth offers up a gift first on the pads for Shafali, who sweeps it for four. But the pacer follows up with a length ball that stops a bit seemingly on Shafali and she slices it while driving on the up down the ground. Sutherland takes a good running catch from mid on. Seemed like a wobble seam delivery.

Shafali Verma c Annabel Sutherland b Kim Garth 7 (6 balls)

A tight over from Gardner, tying down Mandhana. Shafali goes for a big shot off the first and last balls of that over, doesn't connect cleanly with either but evades fielders.

Meanwhile, this is Ellyse Perry's 350th international for Australia, the first woman to achieve that feat.

A lengthy first over from Darcie Brown, she does struggle with her radar at times and bowls a plethora of wides (four to be precise). Later in the over, Mandhana gets into her groove with a delightful cover drive, that signature shot of hers, past mid off for four.

Photo: BCCIWomen/X

With points at stake in each of the matches across all three formats – two points each for a win in T20Is and ODIs and four points at stake in the one-off Pink-ball Test in Perth – every game assumes importance, but the bigger picture for both sides would be the T20Is that kickstart the tour. Across Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide, India would be hoping to fine-tune their T20 World Cup preparations while Australia being the post-Alyssa Healy era under Sophie Molineux's leadership. "Being a world champion always gives you lots of confidence, but every time when you step to the ground you have to start from ball one. It's a different ball game now and we are really looking forward to that. T20 is something we, as a team, really enjoy playing and playing against Australia is always fun," Harmanpreet said in Sydney before the series began. For Molineux, the biggest challenge is to recreate the aura around Australia that has somewhat slipped across the last two major events. But the incredible talent at her disposal should make her job easier. "There is so much experience and skill in this team, and the girls are really driven to succeed for Australia, so it's just bringing it all together (as captain)," Molineux had said.

Australia XI: Beth Mooney (wk), Georgia Voll, Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner, Grace Harris, Georgia Wareham, Annabel Sutherland, Kim Garth, Sophie Molineux(c), Darcie Brown

India XI: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Amanjot Kaur, Shreyanka Patil, Arundhati Reddy, Shree Charani, Renuka Singh Thakur

On Sunday at the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground, Arundhati Reddy was the star for India in the first T20I, picking up four wickets – one in each over she bowled – as Australia were bowled out in a home women's T20I for only the second time in history. Incidentally, the last time Arundhati Reddy played in Australia, she had picked up a superb 4-wicket haul at another iconic venue Down Under. In the only ODI she played in that tour, she ran through Australia's top order in one spell, taking the first four wickets to fall between overs 11 and 17. It didn't help India win that day, but it was her career-best ODI figures – just as the 4/22 in Sydney is now in T20Is.

"I love Australia, it's the country I enjoy the most. I think when we landed here, just the vibes I get... Growing up I used to watch a lot of Test matches, Ashes in Australia, and I always wanted to come here and play cricket. Obviously, I enjoyed playing here last time around, it was good. And I've started off well, hopefully I'll continue doing it," Arundhati said after her match-winning performance. Her spell was central to India dismissing Australia for 133 in 18 overs, only the second time they have been bowled out in a women's T20I at home. In reply, India raced to 50/1 after 5.1 overs, when rain stopped play. With just enough overs bowled for a result, India were 21 runs ahead on the DLS method, registering a comfortable win to begin their multi-format tour.

Read more here.

For India, this was a golden opportunity missed to take a 4-0 lead as 164 was a winnable target, but they lost their way in a conservative phase of play after starting the run chase on the front foot. Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana put on 54/0 after just 5.3 overs. But after getting hit for back-to-back fours, Annabel Sutherland came back well to finish the over with three dot balls. One of those was a bouncer that Shafali struggled to duck under. The follow-up delivery was on a good length, and as Shafali defended it back to Sutherland, the bowler gathered the ball and stared down the Indian opener. It was subtle, it wasn't over-the-top aggression, but it was the first sign that Australia were up for this fight – it started to feel like the famous Aussie intensity was finally on display.