After a disappointing loss in Sydney and the frustration of not being able to finish the game due to the rain, Australia came into this match with a lot of determination,Their batting score appeared under par and India’s start made it look like it was certain to be that way, but a strong bowling performance through the middle and late overs of the game secured the win for the home team,Voll was a well-deserved player of the match – her determination set the standard for her teammates and ensured her team had a strong platform to build from,While the batting innings finished in a disappointing manner for Australia, it was a good enough score to give the bowlers something to defend and they gave their all to defending it,For India, Shafali and Smriti put on a great opening stand, but after Shafali was out, the scoring rate stalled.

Richa and Harmanpreet put on another decent partnership, but Sutherland swung the momentum of the match with some very tight overs and was eventually rewarded with two wickets late in the game.A fascinating match all round, with both teams having periods of ascendancy, it sets up both the T20 mini series and the multi-format series beautifully, with a win apiece on the board now.The next game will be in Adelaide on Saturday evening and I’ll be here to take you through that one as well.I’ll see you then – thanks for joining me for this exciting game!With her highest T20I score, Voll takes the player of the match prize.She’s very happy with the team’s performance and is hoping they can take this form into the third T20 in Adelaide on the weekend.

20th over: India 132-8 (Kranti 12, Renuka 1)Molineux takes the final over for herself – a captain’s prerogative I suppose! She nearly takes a catch from the second ball of her over, but it sails just to her left,However she does eventually get the wicket with Perry taking a good catch on the boundary,Renuka scampers through for a single straight away and Kranti finishes the game positively for India with a six and a four, but it’s not enough to get them over the line and Australia take the win,Charani goes hard, taking the approach that she knows she needs to, but Perry takes a good catch on the boundary to continue the Indian collapse,19th over: India 132-8 (Kranti 1, Charani 0)Sutherland returns for her final over and takes the wicket of Arundhati early and then nearly gets another, but Brown can’t hold on to the catch.

So she takes matters into her own hands by bowling Amanjot in a sensational over.Sutherland now can’t stop taking wickets, she bowls through and straight and goes straight through Amanjot.Wickets are falling everywhere now and Sutherland is rewarded for an excellent bowling performance by at last picking up a wicket.18th over: India 130-6 (Arundhati 2, Amanjot 2)Gardner returns for her fourth and final over of the night.She picks up the Richa wicket from the third ball of the over, then Deepti on the fifth and it’s a very successful over.

A second ball duck for Deepti as she tries to make something happen, but she can only manage to hit it straight up in the air for Sutherland to take an easy catch,Mooney finally gets that stumping she was after – Gardner lures Richa well out of her crease and deceives her enough to slide the ball past her to the keeper,17th over: India 127-4 (Richa 19, Amanjot 1)Garth returns to try to stem the flow of runs – Australia were looking in control after the Sutherland over, but the Molineux over opened the door again for India,Mooney drops a chance from the first ball of the over – just a slight tickle on the ball from Harmanpreet, but she would have been gone if Mooney had held on to it,Harmanpreet gets a luckier edge a couple of balls later, which glides down to the boundary, but eventually Garth gets her where she wants her and takes the wicket.

Finally Australia get the breakthrough they were looking for, luring Harmanpreet into playing a big shot and Molineux takes a comfortable catch,16th over: India 120-3 (Richa 19, Harmanpreet 30)Molineux brings herself back as we get into the business end of this match,Richa takes a liking to the first ball and dances down the pitch to meet it and slaps it over the offside for four,The next ball is smartly worked single and then Harmanpreet gets into the boundary hitting game and this is very quickly an expensive over for the captain,15th over: India 108-3 (Richa 14, Harmanpreet 23)Sutherland bowls her third over now, with the required run rate sitting just below 10 an over.

It’s tough, but doable with these two batters at the crease.Sutherland is keeping her line and length tight, to keep the squeeze on.She doesn’t have a wicket so far tonight, but she’s been doing her job with the ball.A very good over from her.14th over: India 105-3 (Richa 13, Harmanpreet 22)Gardner’s third over and she tempts Richa straight away and Mooney chases a stumping, but Richa gets back into her crease in plenty of time.

Then the outside edge beats Mooney and runs away for four, which is followed by misfield – an indication of the pressure being applied.Mooney has a big appeal for a stumping on Harmanpreet next ball, which seems like a very optimistic appeal and it turns out to be so, Harmanpreet is easily in her crease.Mooney just really wants a stumping I think.13th over: India 98-3 (Richa 7, Harmanpreet 21)Molineux bowls her second over and she lures Harmanpreet into almost throwing her wicket away, but the ball doesn’t quite make its way to Sutherland and then Richa gets her first boundary and they keep the score ticking over.12th over: India 90-3 (Richa 1, Harmanpreet 19)Another Darcie Brown over and it starts with a leading edge that flies towards Voll, but it goes just over her head and runs away for four.

Brown follows it up with a wide that’s very wide indeed.There’s an appeal for lbw late in the over that no one but Mooney is much interested in, but I guess Molineux figures she was right about the last one, so let’s have another go and they decide to review.However this time the umpire had it right and it’s clearly missing the stumps on ball tracker.11th over: India 82-3 (Richa 1, Harmanpreet 14)Finally we get some leg spin, as Wareham enters the attack.(Apologies for my leg spin bias, my daughter is a leg spinner and as such it’s my favourite discipline of bowling).

However, it also seems to be something Harmanpreet enjoys as Wareham gives her too much width and she hits two consecutive boundaries after India going 30 balls without a boundary.10th over: India 71-3 (Richa 0, Harmanpreet 4)Garth returns to bowl the last over before drinks.Mooney is keeping up to the stumps to cramp Harmanpreet up in her crease, but she’s too smart to get stuck there for long and guides the ball away for a single straight away.Smriti plays an aggressive shot, but the field is set well and she can also only manage a single.Australia have done a great job to heavily restrict the boundaries after an early onslaught from Smriti and Shafali.

Smriti has to go and we have an early drinks break,Richa faces her first ball after the break and finishes the over with two dots,If I’m being honest I thought this appeal was one of those ones where they’re mostly just trying to trick the umpire into thinking it’s not a wide,But Australia surprised me by reviewing it and surprised the umpire by being right – Smriti has to go after a strong start,9th over: India 68-2 (Smriti 30, Harmanpreet 2)Gardner comes back for her second over and starts with a dot, before taking Jemimah’s wicket and bringing the captain to the crease.

Harmanpreet gets off strike with a quick single immediately to get the set batter back on strike,Smriti rotates the strike straight back again and Gardner closes out a very good over for Australia with a dot and a single,The Sutherland squeeze the over before pays dividends and Sutherland fittingly takes the catch after Jemimah attempts a slog sweep and doesn’t quite get hold of it,8th over: India 65-1 (Smriti 29, Jemimah 4)Sutherland returns for a second over and she lets three singles through from the first three balls, then an almost catching opportunity presents itself, but it’s just short of the field,Jemimah finishes the over with a wild looking ramp that clears Mooney, but just finishes with a single – six singles from the Sutherland over.

7th over: India 59-1 (Smriti 26, Jemimah 1)Captain Molineux comes in to bowl her first over.She starts well, just three singles from her first three balls, before the breakthrough comes and Shafali is out lbw, bringing Jemimah Rodrigues to the crease.A good over from the captain, just the five runs from it, plus the wicket.The captain gets the breakthrough once again – she applies the pressure early in her over and it pays off, with Shafali getting down to the ball and missing it, before it crashes into her pad.She takes the review, but it’s unsuccessful and she has to go.

6th over: India 54-0 (Smriti 28, Shafali 23) Sutherland enters the attack for the first time and her first ball is a dot, but then Shafali drives one aggressively past long off for a one bounce four, before following it up with another boundary the very next ball,An interesting moment midway through the over when Shafali ducks under a Sutherland bouncer, but leaves her bat in the air and the ball bounces straight into it,Fortunately for Shafali, it falls safely in front of her! The powerplay is now complete,5th over: India 46-0 (Smriti 20, Shafali 23)Brown returns for her second over with Smriti on strike to her now, having bowled her last over entirely to Shafali,The first ball looks like a catching opportunity, but it’s slightly out of reach of Litchfield, who makes good ground in the attempt.

The next ball Smriti manages to pierce the field between midwicket and mid on and guides the ball to the boundary for four.Another four follows, with a straight drive back past Brown – the slower ball is not doing its job for Brown tonight.It’s an expensive over and India will be very pleased with it.4th over: India 32-0 (Smriti 9, Shafali 20) Kim Garth comes into the attack – Molineux possibly looking to unsettle the batter with lots of quick bowling changes.Garth starts with a wide, which probably wasn’t as unsettling to the batters as they would have hoped.

She tightens up her line and gets things back under control, bowling well to her field to keep it to a tidy six runs for the over3rd over: India 26-0 (Smriti 7, Shafali 17)Nicola Carey comes into the attack for the first time tonight and Smriti finally gets some strike after being stranded at the non-strikers’ end for most of the first two overs,She starts watchfully, then picks up the length of the second ball perfectly and sends it sailing to the boundary for four with a lovely pull shot past deep midwicket,Carey fights back with good line and length and then catches Smriti off guard and gets her hitting to deep extra cover not quite under control, but it lands safely,2nd over: India 18-0 (Smriti o, Shafali 17)Darcie Brown opens the bowling from the other end and Shafali starts with a crisp cut shot, but it can’t pierce the field and it’s a dot,There’s a play and miss on the second ball that Shafali will be relieved didn’t catch the edge.

But Brown then loses her line and Shafali works it fine to the boundary to keep the score ticking over,It’s a good battle here between Brown and Shafali – four dots in the over, but three times Brown loses her line, leading to a wide and two fours,1st over: India 9-0 (Smriti o, Shafali 9)Gardner opens the bowling for Australia and Shafali starts aggressively, sending the ball up into the air and it looks like it could be a catching opportunity, but with the field up for the powerplay, it falls safely and Shafali picks up two runs,A great first over from India to get this run chase underway,The innings started incredibly well for Australia – a great recovery after a forgettable performance in Sydney on Sunday.

Georgia Voll was a standout – while she didn’t look particularly in control at the start of her innings, she built into it with extreme determination and muscled her way to 88 at a strike rate of 154.Mooney played a great supporting role for her 46, but once the two openers were out, there wasn’t a lot write home about for Australia.They still ended up with a much better score than they managed in the first T20, but Manuka Oval is known for being a great batting wicket and they certainly would have been hoping for a higher total for their bowlers to defend.Arundhati Reddy was the pick of the bowlers for India, finishing with figures of 2-30.She could have had a third wicket, but Amanjot couldn’t hold on to the catch.

It’s certainly a score that has this match poised – anything could happen from here.India will feel very confident they can chase this down, but Australia will know if they bowl well, they can take wickets and keep the scoring rate down.Not long until we find out which team has the edge tonight – stay with me for the second innings!20th over: Australia 163-5 (Gardner 10)Charani comes on to bowl the final over, which starts with a single to Gardner and then a near run out on the second.Gardner and Perry are doing their best to finish with a bang and add some much-needed runs to the total, but they can’t seem to find the middle of the bat or the gaps in the field.The over finishes with two run outs and what seems like a below par score.

Wareham looks to dash down for a run after Gardner can only defend it back to the bowler and she’s run out for a diamond duck to finish the innings.