Day 16 Talking Points: India's opening dilemma, Healy blitzkrieg takes the game away

Eden Park, Auckland - Match 18

MATCH CENTRE | MATCH REPORT

Since the start of the decade, India's openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana have had the third-highest runs amongst opening pairs in the world. However, with Verma's form dwindling in the 50-over format of late, she was dropped after just the first game.

In her absence, Yastika Bhatia was promoted up the order before India decided to recall Verma for the game against Australia just three games after being benched. At the toss, skipper Mithali Raj cited that India needed a deeper batting order against Australia, thus prompting the return of Verma in place of Deepti Sharma.

The move did not really pay off as Verma was back in the hut for a 16-ball 12, though she could consider herself unlucky as Beth Mooney grabbed a brilliant catch to bring an end to her innings.

Both openers were back in the hut by the end of the Powerplay, leaving Mithali Raj and Yastika Bhatia to bail India out of trouble.

The questions though, going into the final two games for India, remain – were India right to drop a game-changer in Verma in the first place? Was this just a horses-for-courses approach to drop an all-rounder for a batter? Will Deepti Sharma return for the next game and if so, who will she replace?

Fifties from Mithali Raj and Yastika Bhatia bailed India out of trouble after the early breakthroughs. However, Australia fought back hard, first breaking the 130-run partnership between the duo before running through the middle order. India, who at one point were 158/2, found themselves at 213/6.

India had Harmanpreet Kaur at one end who was looking solid but was running out of support before Pooja Vastrakar once against stepped up with the bat. They took the attack to Alana King in her final over, smashing two fours and a six to collect 17 runs. They added 64 runs off 46 balls for the seventh wickets, taking India to a respectable total of 277.

While these sort of performances are expected from a veteran like Kaur, India will particularly be pleased with the hitting abilities of Vastrakar, who for the second time in the tournament, turned the game around with the bat in hand.

Alyssa Healy is making a habit out of tormenting India in World Cups. In the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2020, she took the game away early in the match a stunning 39-ball 75 and it was almost a repeat of that in the 2022 Women's World Cup as well.

She made her intent clear in the very beginning and got Australia off to a flying start in the Powerplay. She killed the game with her brilliant strokeplay, finding boundaries at will inside the Powerplay. She did slow down after the fielding restrictions were lifted but her partnership of 121 with Rachael Haynes which came at better than run-a-ball knocked the stuffing out of the Indian bowling lineup that was already a bowler short.

After a couple of meagre returns in the previous two ODIs, Healy came to the party at the right time and Australia will hope she can continue her form going into the business end of the tournament.