ICC Women's World T20: Smriti Mandhana powers India to 167 against Australia

India posted a competitive 167 for 8 in 20 overs against Australia in the ICC Women's World T20 on Saturday. This was the Indian women's cricket team's highest T20I total against Australia.

Batting first, India rode on a brilliant 55-ball 83 from Smriti Mandhana to post a challenging total for the Aussies. The left-handed opener anchored the innings, smashing nine boundaries and three sixes in the entertaining knock.

Mandhana was supported by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur who scored 47 from 23 balls to provide the impetus at the end.

Earlier, Kaur won the toss and elected to bat against Australia in their group B match in Guyana.

For Australia, senior all-rounder Ellyse Perry was the pick of the bowlers, taking three wickets for 16 runs from three overs.

India made two changes, bringing in Anuja Patil in place of Mithali Raj, who is unwell and replacing Mansi Joshi with Arundhati Reddy. Australia, on the other hand, brought Tayla Vlaeminck in place of Georgia in their only change to the playing XI.

Both the teams have already made it to the semifinals after winning all the three matches so far.

Playing XIs

India: Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Veda Krishnamurthy, Dayalan Hemalatha, Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Taniya Bhatia (w), Anuja Patil, Poonam Yadav, Arundhati Reddy.

Australia: Beth Mooney, Alyssa Healy (w), Meg Lanning (c), Ashleigh Gardner, Elyse Villani, Rachael Haynes, Ellyse Perry, Sophie Molineux, Delissa Kimmince, Tayla Vlaeminck, Megan Schutt.

(Inputs from PTI)