Sydney: Leg-spinner Poonam Yadav (4/19) bowled India to a 17-run victory over tournament favourites and hosts Australia in the opening match of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2020 in Sydney on Friday (February 21).

At the Sydney Showground Stadium, Indian women were restricted to 132/4 in 20 overs. In reply, the hosts’ batters, barring Alyssa Healy (51 off 35 balls) and Ashleigh Gardner (34 off 36), faltered.

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Australia women are the top-ranked T20I team in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Rankings. India are at fourth place.

In the run chase, Indian bowlers bowled out defending champions Australia for 115 in 19.5 overs to register victory. The 28-year-old Poonam was the bowling star for India, taking four wickets for 19 runs in four overs. Last month, Poonam had won the BCCI’s Best International Cricketer (Women) award.

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Earlier, sent to bat first, India were off to a blazing start with 40/0 in four overs. However, they lost quick wickets. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur was dismissed for just two runs.

Openers Shafali Verma (29) and Smriti Mandhana (10) added 40 runs for the first wicket in 4.1 overs. In the later part of the innings, Deepti Sharma (49 not out off 46 with three fours), helped the team to cross the 130-run mark.

Jemimah Rodrigues contributed useful 26 runs off 33 balls. Jemimah and Deepti had a 53-run partnership for the fourth wicket. For Australia, Jess Jonassen took two wickets while Ellyse Perry and Delissa Kimmince had one scalp apiece.

Brief scores

India Women 132/4 in 20 overs (Deepti Sharma 49 not out, Shafali Verma 29, Jemimah Rodrigues 26, Jess Jonassen 2/24, Ellyse Perry 1/15, Delissa Kimmince 1/24) beat Australia Women 115 all out in 19.5 overs (Alyssa Healy 51, Ashleigh Gardner 34, Poonam Yadav 4/19, Rajeshwari Gayakwad 1/31, Shikha Pandey 3/14)