India's batting woes continued as they could only manage 225/8 against Australia in the first women's ODI of the three-match series in Mackay on September 21.
India, who are aiming to score 250 plus consistently to challenge the likes of Australia, kept losing wickets regularly in an innings that never got the momentum it needed.
Skipper Mithali Raj (61 off 107) recorded her fifth consecutive fifty, which was also her 59th overall half-century, while the other significant contributions came from debutants Yastika Bhatia (35 off 51) and Richa Ghosh (32 not out off 29).
India would not have crossed the 220-run mark if it wasn't for the eight-wicket stand of 45 runs between senior pacer Jhulan Goswami (20 off 24) and Ghosh, who was picked ahead of Taniya Bhatia to add the much needed firepower to the batting line-up.
India openers Shafali Verma (8) and Smriti Mandhana (16), whom the team relies on heavily for brisk starts, perished after hitting a few boundaries.
Senior batter Harmanpreet Kaur did not play the game due to a thumb injury.
Pacer Darcie Brown (4/33) picked up four wickets for Australia while debutant Hannah Darlington (2/29) and Sophie Molineux (2/39) took a couple each.
Scoreboard:
India
Shafali Verma c Healy b Darcie Brown 8 Smriti Mandhana c R Haynes b Darcie Brown 16 Yastika Bhatia c R Haynes b Darcie Brown 35 Mithali Raj st Healy b Molineux 61 Deepti Sharma c Wareham b Darcie Brown 9 Pooja Vastrakar c Molineux b HJ Darlington 17 Richa Ghosh not out 32 Sneh Rana b HJ Darlington 2 Jhulan Goswami st Healy b Molineux 20 Meghna Singh not out 1
Extras : (B-2, LB-3, W-19) 24
Total : (For 8 wickets in 50 Overs) 225
Fall of wickets : 1-31, 2-38, 3-115, 4-129, 5-166, 6-172, 7-178, 8-223.
Bowling : Ellyse Perry 4-0-37-0, Darcie Brown 9-1-33-4, Tahlia McGrath 6-0-34-0, Ashleigh Gardner 4-1-12-0, Sophie Molineux 9-0-39-2, Georgia Wareham 10-0-36-0, Hannah Darlington 8-1-29-2.
