If you like your cricket served up with a side of clear ruthlessness, then Australia served up some in New Chandigarh — a neat eight-wicket win that felt less like a thriller and more like a declaration of intent. The visitors chased down 282 in 44.1 overs and left India with plenty to ponder upon as World Cup warm-ups hit the ramp-up; this series is suddenly Australia’s to lose.
Litchfield’s Big Statement
Phoebe Litchfield took care of business early, pacing the game very well on her way to 88. That innings created a perfect launch pad for Australia, and it was the kind of top-order control that eases the pressure off any batting line-up. Phoebe had a couple of lucky breaks — a dropped catch early and a few edges that didn’t go to hand — which compounded the story: when you give a batter a life, the good players make you pay. Her range of reverse-sweeps and angled drives left no doubt why selectors love that type of variety at the top, and there was an authority that demanded respect from the moment she got bat on ball.
India’s Middle-Overs Misery
India’s day with the bat had dual personalities. The openers, Pratika Rawal and Smriti Mandhana, were able to stitch together a fluent 114 at the top – a balance of aggression and anchoring that you’d want in a perfect world. However, the middle overs told a different tale, as Georgia Wareham and Annabel Sutherland stemmed the flow, run rate dropping into the mid-fours, and India was reliant on late cameos from Harleen Deol, Radha Yadav, and Deepti Sharma to scrape together 281. While it was a competitive total that was slightly short of domination, it was enough to apply pressure when the chase began.
Finishers and Fielding: Where the Game Tilted
After Litchfield and Ellyse Perry (who retired hurt) established a rhythm, making the chase comfortable, Mooney and Annabel Sutherland finished the job with an unbroken 116-run standoff. Mooney’s calm pacing of the innings and Sutherland’s ability to rotate the strike made the required-rate math disappear, and Australia were only in trouble after 20 overs. Mooney bolted to a 45-ball fifty and Sutherland to a fifty off 47 deliveries, illustrating how comfortably Australia can accelerate without associating panic. Australia’s bowling options were tidy when required, whilst India spilled runs through missed catches and misfields that they could ill-afford in an evenly matched contest. These small margins turned what should have been a tight game into a decisive win.
This was not a capitulation for India; rather, it was a checklist to follow: tidy up the fielding, tighten the planning through the middle, and treat all reprieves as missed chances. Australia can now fly home with a few positives: depth to their batting line-up, established clarity in their roles, and a partnership to finish the innings that is still calm. The series has only just started, but New Chandigarh felt like a tiny fault line had been shifted; the question now becomes whether India can respond in the next ODI. The focus will be on India’s bench – do they pick combinations of players that involve sprinklings of spinners or back up an already pace-heavy attack?
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