CAPE TOWN: Team India, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, suffered a 44-run loss against Australia in a warm-up match for the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 at Newlands. Australia’s strength in depth proved crucial as they recovered from a tough start to win by a comfortable margin. India quickly stumbled to 22/4 in their reply, with three wickets taken by Darcie Brown in her first two overs and two by Ash Gardner’s off-spin. Deepti Sharma’s 19* was the best from India’s batting, but she couldn’t find a partner for a comeback.

Earlier, returning player Shikha Pandey made an impact by dismissing Meg Lanning for a duck and Tahlia McGrath for just two. Ellyse Perry was also run out cheaply for Australia’s third wicket, but Beth Mooney and Gardner attempted to rescue the innings, with Mooney scoring 28 and Gardner falling as the fourth wicket with Pooja Vastrakar taking the catch. Pandey finished with figures of 2/9, including the wickets of Lanning and McGrath.

India had Australia at 79/8, but a ninth-wicket stand of 50 between Georgia Wareham (32*) and Jess Jonassen (22*) took Australia to 129/8 in their 20 overs after a slow start of 10/3.