Women's ODI series: India beat Australia by two wickets in third match

India finished the ODI leg of the multiformat series on a high with a brilliant twowicket win fashioned by a collective team effort which ended Australias unbeaten ODI streak of 26 matches However Australia won the ODI series 21 with the multiformat series scoreline reading 42The third and final ODI in Mackay went down to the wire but this time India held their nerves as they sealed a thrilling twowicket win with just three balls to spare Tall India pacer Jhulan Goswami hit the winning runs lofting it straight for a fourChasing a target of 265 India showed poise and power in their response with the opening pair of Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana putting on 59 for the first wicket Negotiating the newball partnership of Perry and McGrath Mandhana fell to the offspin of Gardner for 22 25 with Annabel Sutherland taking a catch running back from midoffYoung Yastika Bhatia continued her fine start to international cricket ticking things along with Verma bringing up a 100run stand in just 19 overs At 1601 after 29 overs and needing just 105 India looked in prime position before a double blow swung the pendulum back once again Verma fell to the leftarm orthodox spin of Sophie Molineux for 56 while wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh was dismissed an over later with Sutherland taking her first wicketBhatia continued her press with captain Mithali Raj with only a piece of inspired fielder ending her stay at the crease Topedging a short ball Bhatia became Stella Campbells first victim in international cricket only after a diving catch from substitute fielder Molly StranoSutherland doubled her tally by rattling Vastrakars 3 stumps leaving Mithali and No7 Deepti Sharma needing a run a ball from the last 10 overs Sutherland struck once again in her next over snaring the India skipper who was bowled for 16Rana got a lifeline when she was dropped by Nicola Carey on 11 on the last ball of the 44th over The equation came down to India requiring 33 runs from the last five overs with four wickets in handThe luck was on Ranas side as she got another life in the next over Once again it was Carey who completed a caught and bowled dismissal but the delivery was called a noball as Carey had oversteppedMcGrath broke the 33run seventhwicket stand by snaring Deeptis wicket for 31 Riding on a lucky run the onus was on Rana to take her side across the line but she eventually became Careys victim in the penultimate overGoswami and Meghna Singh made sure there werent any more hiccups as they guided India to a memorable win that will help boost their confidence for next years ICC Womens Cricket World Cup in New ZealandAlso Read India under pressure to avoid clean sweep v OzEarlier Meg Lanning won the third consecutive toss for the Australians in the series and elected to bat Australias opening pair of Rachael Haynes and Alyssa Healy looked to keep the heat on in the middle racing to 40 inside the first eight overs only for the pressure to be released through the work of veteran quick Jhulan GoswamiBrief scores Australia Women 2649 in 50 overs A Healy 35 B Mooney 52 A Gardner 67 T McGrath 47 J Goswami 337 P Vastrakar 346 lost to India Women 2668 in 493 overs S Verma 56 Y Bhatia 64 A Sutherland 330 by 2 wicketsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever