Offspinner Clare Osborne was player of the match with a career-best 3-13 as Australia began the defence of their Women’s World Twenty20 title with a comfortable win over India in Galle on Thursday.
India won the toss and batted but could only manage 8-104.
Australia cruised to 2-105 with 16 deliveries remaining in reply, led by opener Meg Lanning’s 39.
Alyssa Healy (21) put on 43 for the first wicket with Lanning while Jess Cameron hit 36, adding 49 for the second wicket with Lanning.
Australia’s next Group A match is against Pakistan on Saturday.
India captain Mithali Raj made a bold decision to bat first, and for the first six overs it looked like India was doing everything right.
Poonam Raut top-scored with 21, cruising at a run-a-ball and hitting four boundaries and later on Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur added 25 runs for the third wicket.
But the run-out of Raj proved to be India’s undoing.
“Harman and I were batting really well, but we collapsed once again. One defeat doesn’t mean the end of the road, we have to keep believing in ourselves. We can’t sulk about this, surprises do happen,” rued India captain Raj.
Australia’s spin twins – Lisa Sthalekar and Erin Osborne – had combined figures of 4-31 from seven overs, with Osborne picking up three of them.
When asked about her match-winning spell, Osborne said: “I think I was just a beneficiary of some fantastic work done by the other bowlers.”
India lost three wickets in the last two overs to reach a total of 104, and Australia chased down the modest total in 17.2 overs.
Australia captain Jodie Fields was full of praise for Lanning’s performance, saying: “We expect her to set the tone at the top of the innings. She is fearless and extremely confident, I just love watching her bat.”
Earlier, England registered a decisive win over Pakistan by 43 runs in the first Group A encounter in Galle.
England, who looked on track to post a total in excess of 150, was halted by the Pakistan spinners, going from 102 for no loss in 13 overs to 6-133 after 20. Pakistan skipper Sana Mir was the pick of the bowlers with figures of two for 20.
