India women's team wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh displayed the art of power-hitting against Australia during their first T20 International game on Friday, December 9, at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai.
Richa smashed five boundaries and a couple of sixes in her 20-ball 36-run cameo to make a massive difference to India's score midway through the innings after they were reduced to 76 for 4 with the dismissal of skipper Harmanpreet Kaur in the 12th over.
Ghosh took on the Australian spin attack comprising Alana King, Jess Jonassen and Ashleigh Gardner. She was fluent in her stroke play and reading the field placements helped her find the gaps.
She hoicked King's tossed-up delivery to clear the long-on boundary for a six before hitting a couple of consecutive boundaries off the leg-spinner in the 14th over. Richa Ghosh slapped Jonassen for a boundary on the off-side following a leading edge off Megan Schutt for another four toward the short third.
The 19-year-old's zenith in her handy cameo was a straight six down the ground over Gardner's head. The shot came just before Gardner got the better of the Indian wicketkeeper when the latter was out of her crease and Australia's stand-in skipper Alyssa Healy was quick to whip the bails off behind the stumps.
India posted 172/5 following Deepti's blitz
All-rounder Deepti Sharma took over the proceedings from Richa Ghosh, while slamming 36 runs in 15 deliveries with the help of eight fours at an impressive strike rate of 240. The left-handed batter Devika Vaidya remained unbeaten on 25 as India posted a challenging score of 172/5 at the end of the first innings.
Earlier in India's innings, openers Shafali Verma (21) and Smriti Mandhana (28) started off well with some brisk shots but failed to convert them into big scores. After a successful campaign in the Asia Cup, Jemimah Rodrigues was dismissed for a six-ball duck. Harmanpreet added 21 runs off 23 balls before being caught by Annabel Sutherland off Kim Garth.
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