Key events
2nd over: Australia 10-0 (Mooney 10, Litchfield 0) Here comes Vastrakar, she’s been devastating in her opening spells of late. She goes full in search of movement and the stumps, Mooney greets it with a flowing blade – the ball skimming through the covers for four. Shot! Another half volley served up by Vastrakar and Mooney punches down the ground in style!
1st over: Australia 1-0 (Mooney 1, Litchfield 0) Renuka Singh to start the with the shiny new orb, a hint of movement off the pitch. Two slips and a gully in place. Mooney works to leg to open the account on the Aus second innings.
No time for a second coffee of the wee small hours at this end. Here come the players after a rapid turnaround. Mooney and Litchfield to open up for Australia, they’ll be hoping for a better start than they had in the first innings… Litchfield particularly.
India all out for 406 – a lead of 187 runs
Polished off! Renuka Singh looked very uncomfortable against the short stuff and sure enough she plinks a simple catch to Ash Gardner off another bumper from Sutherland.
Over to Australia to bat themselves back into this game, it’s going to take something special from here. Shout out to Ash Gardner who picked up four wickets in the innings and got through an impressive 41 overs of graft.
WICKET! Deepti Sharma b Garth 78 (India 402-9)
Garth loses her radar and spears one down the leg side that Healy does well to get a glove on stood up to the stumps, four byes narrowly avoided. That’s better! A full ball scuds through Sharma as the batter looks to work to leg, stumps splayed and a fantastic knock from Deepti comes to a close. Australia picking up two quick wickets this morning, wicket maiden for Garth. Rajeshwari Gayakwad is India’s last batter.
126th over: India 402-8 (Renuka 4, Gayakwad 0)
125th over: India 402-8 (Deepti 78, Renuka 4) Sutherland is resolutely whanging the ball into the middle of the wicket, Australia going with some fire and brimstone on the morning of day three. Deepti gets inside the line and paddles away for a single. Eeesht! Renuka gets a top edge for four with a highly unconvincing pull shot but the end result is 400 up for India.
124th over: India 397-8 (Deepti 77, Renuka 0) Garth, fresh off pouching the catch to remove Vastrakar, wheels in again under fiery Mumbai sunshine. Renuka Singh is the new batter for India. Deepti inches closer to the milestone of three figures with a single through the covers.
WICKET! Vastrakar c Garth b Sutherland 47 (India 396-8)
Shot! Sutherland digs in another short ball and Vastrakar greets it with a swivel-pull that skims away for four behind square. Short again, Vastrakar tries the same thing but the ball gets big on her and she top edges over Healy behind the stumps for another boundary… GONE this time! Third short ball in a row and Vastrakar guides into the hands of Garth at square leg. The plan works, eventually, for Australia.
123rd over: India 396-8 (Deepti 75, Renuka 0)
122nd over: India 387-7 (Deepti 75, Vastrakar 39) Garth serves up a juicy full bunger on leg stump, Deepti misses out on the boundary as Ellyse Perry pulls off a nifty dive at wide mid on. A couple of well judged singles follow, India continuing on their merry way so far this morning.
121st over: India 384-7 (Deepti 73, Vastrakar 38) Annabel Sutherland starts at the other end and she’s bending her back and testing out the middle of the pitch. Vastrakar and Deepti rotate strike to take three singles off it.
120th over: India 381-7 (Deepti 71, Vastrakar 37) Garth chugs in for the first one of the day, three dots before Deepti shuffles across and clips for one to get herself a single. A slip and gully in place for Australia, Vastrakar gets a meaty edge off a length ball and it runs away wide of slip for four runs. Still looks a belting pitch to bat on at the Wankhede.
Here we go then, Kim Garth has the ball in hand for Australia, quick wickets the order of the day for the visitors and then a day of batting. India will have other ideas, particularly Deepti and Vastrakar who played so well last evening. Bright and sunny in Mumbai, dark and quiet here in London. Let’s play!
The players are readying on the boundary edge in Mumbai, time to make a quick (and strong) coffee and we’ll be underway in just over five minutes.
Day three will be underway in about 20 minutes time. Is there a way back into this match for Australia?
Preamble
James Wallace
Hello and welcome to the day three OBO of India v Australia at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, to say Australia have it all to do is an understatement. India dominated proceedings on day two, accumulating their way to 376-7 to put themselves well and truly in command, a lead of 157 runs on first innings with three wickets still to burn.
The final session in particular was a killer for Alyssa Healy’s side, as Deepti Sharma and Pooja Vastrakar kept the visitors at bay for the entirety, stretching the lead by 100 runs and batting the Aussies into the red Mumbai dust. Will day three bare witness to a dramatic turnaround or will it be more of the same? We’ll find out soon enough.
Play gets underway at 9.30am local time, 3.30pm AEDT and 4am UK time. Join us…
