Australia sweep series as Mandhana's heroic ton goes in vain

The downfall of three key players - Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, and Jemimah Rodrigues - at the same score underscores the glaring issue India faces in their middle order. Despite Mandhana's impressive performance, scoring 105 off 109 balls and forming crucial partnerships with Harleen Deol and Harmanpreet Kaur, the team's vulnerability in the middle order was exposed. With the score at 165/2 in the 33rd over, a win seemed imminent, but Kaur's dismissal changed the course of the game. Within five balls, India lost their momentum, collapsing in a disastrous manner and losing their last seven wickets for just 26 runs. This collapse revealed a pressing need for stability and resilience in the team's batting lineup.

In the end, Australia were too strong for India in their own backyard. It didn’t seem so when Arundhati Reddy was making the ball swing big and taking out the top four batters but then Annabel Sutherland chimed in with 110 at No 5 to lift Australia from 78/4 to 296/6 when she was finally out in the penultimate ball of the innings. Ashleigh Gardner followed up her half-century with career-best ODI figures of 5/30 to ensure India couldn’t go the whole distance.