India-Australia blockbuster series a terrific teaser for the Women’s World Cup

Watching Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur tear into a clueless Australian attack at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday night, scoring at about 10 an over, one was tempted to go back to a scoreboard from an ODI match played 19 years ago.

The Australian men had made 434 for four in the last of the five-match series at Johannesburg, but, astonishingly, South Africa chased it down off the penultimate ball. Nearly two decades later, that match still defies belief. It remains the highest successful chase in ODIs; the next highest target hunted down is 60 less.

The way Smriti was batting, it looked like the Indian women had a real chance of emulating the South African men. The host went down in the end by 43 runs. Once Harmanpreet and Smriti, India’s two most accomplished batters, were dismissed in successive overs, it was virtually all over, though Deepti Sharma’s valiant batting made the Indian dressing room remain optimistic.

In the end, India may not have reached anywhere near the target, but make no mistake, this match will not be forgotten in a hurry. It has shown what women’s cricket is capable of. No big target is safe, and that too not just when Australia chases.

Women’s cricket is evolving fast. It evolved fast enough during the course of this remarkable match.

In the afternoon, Beth Mooney had hit the second joint-fastest ODI hundred (57b) in women’s cricket (Karen Rolton, Australia vs South Africa, Lincoln, 2000). But, a few hours later, that honour changed hands: Smriti beat the fellow left-handers by seven balls.

With 781 runs, the match also broke the record for the highest aggregate in women’s ODIs. And the run feast in Delhi was a huge improvement from the previous best, produced by England and South Africa, who had amassed 678 in Bristol back in 2017.

The ICC could not have asked for more, with the women’s World Cup kicking off in Guwahati in less than 10 days.

The way India put up a stiff fight in the series, after the comprehensive defeat in the first match at New Chandigarh, against the by far the world’s best side augurs well for women’s cricket.

India outplayed the Aussies in the second game, setting up the decider here. And in every match, the Indians put on the board their highest score against Australia. Their wait for a win in the bilateral series against the mighty Aussies continues, but now they know how.