Navi Mumbai, Jan 6 (IANS): Australia captain Alyssa Healy has conceded her team was outplayed in their nine-wicket defeat to India in the T20I series opener and rued the missed chances of not getting above 170 with the bat, as well as of being off the mark with the new ball.
Fast-bowler Titas Sadhu emerged as the star for India with a four-wicket haul to bowl Australia out for 141 in 19.2 overs, despite Phoebe Litchfield top-scoring with 49. It was the first time Australia have been bowled out in a T20I game since March 2020.
In reply, openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma slammed fifties each to put a partnership of 137 runs for the first wicket. Though Smriti fell for 52, Shafali remained unbeaten on 64, as India chased down the total in 17.4 overs.
"We left a lot out there with a bat – we had a platform to get ourselves up over 170, and 140 is not enough on that wicket especially with the dew coming in. And then we just let ourselves down a little bit with the new ball – this is what happens in T20 cricket, when you're not quite on against good sides, they make you pay, so we'll just have to fix it for the next two games."
"They probably had the best of the conditions with the new ball, the wicket was offering a little bit but in saying that, they earned that right, they bowled impeccable lengths and made it really challenging for us. So full credit to them and full credit to (Sadhu) for coming in and taking four wickets against our side, I thought she bowled incredibly well," said Alyssa in the post-match press conference.
The wicketkeeper-batter also felt Australia failing to bat out their full quota of overs was not a cause for panic just yet. "When you have a batting line-up like ours 4-30, it does put a lot of pressure on our middle-order who like to go out there and take the game on – normally you want to be able to set the game up and allow those batters the opportunity to come in and strike the ball at the back end."
"We weren't able to do that tonight, unfortunately, but that's the nature of T20 cricket, you want to push the limits out there and we still wanted to get to 170 and we were still trying to do that right to the last ball, so I've got no qualms with us being bowled out tonight."
"Yes, we could have stayed out there and got another nine runs but would it have changed the results tonight? Probably not. I'm happy for our side to go out there and try and put big totals on the board and if we get bowled out so be it, that's just the nature of the game."
"India played a really, really great game of cricket and put us to the sword a little bit so we've just got to brush that off, tidy up a few areas and make sure that we're ready to come and execute come Sunday," she concluded.