Teenage quick tears through Aussies in T20 rout

India have brought Australia crashing back down to earth in the T20I series opener, as a teenage quick tore through their top-order before openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma put the bowlers to the sword in a nine-wicket victory.

Just days after the Australians inflicted India’s biggest ODI defeat and sealed a 3-0 50-over whitewash, India hit back as Titas Sadhu, a 19-year-old medium-pacer playing just her fifth T20 International, snared 4-17 including the wickets of Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath and Ashleigh Gardner.

She was backed up by Shreyanka Patil (2-19) and Deepti Sharma (2-24) as Australia’s powerful batting line-up was bowled out for 141 in 19.2 overs at DY Patil Stadium.

A 79-run stand between Phoebe Litchfield (49 off 32) and Ellyse Perry (37 off 30) only briefly turned the momentum back in Australia’s favour after they were put in to bat first by India.

Verma (64no from 44) and Mandhana (54 from 52) then took the attack to the Australian bowlers as the hosts sealed victory with 14 balls to spare.

Needing a special effort with the ball to defend the below-par total, it was not Australia’s night from over one, with Darcie Brown’s first going for 14 runs including a leg-side wide that went to the boundary and was also called a no ball.

In increasingly dewy conditions, Alyssa Healy rotated through her attack but the Australians were unable to build pressure on the India openers as they raced to 0-48 at the end of the powerplay.

Verma, in a mood and with a point to prove after she was dropped from the ODI side last week, brought up her half-century from 32 deliveries, hitting six fours and three sixes across her 44-ball innings.

Mandhana was content to play the support role, reaching her own half-century at a run-a-ball.

She holed out shortly after, well caught on the rope by McGrath off the bowling of Georgia Wareham, but it was a consolation wicket with only five needed off 28 deliveries.

Verma and Mandhana’s 137-run stand was India’s biggest in T20Is against Australia, and the largest opening stand by any team against the Aussies.

The drubbing leaves Australia with plenty to ponder and just one day to reset before Sunday’s second match of the three-game series.

Earlier, Sadhu, who made her international debut last September during the Asian Games in China, grabbed three top-order wickets to have the Australians reeling at 4-33 at the end of the power play.

Mooney (17 off 18) was the first to fall, failing to clear Harmanpreet Kaur at mid-on as she looked to hit the teenage right-armer down the ground in the fourth over.

It broke a 28-run first-wicket stand and her opening partner Healy followed her to the dugout five balls later, caught in near identical fashion, only at mid-off, taking on the bowling of Renuka Thakur.

Sadhu then pocketed two more of the world’s best players in the space of two legal deliveries, as she had McGrath holing out to third, then after bowling a leg-side wide, pouched the simplest of return catches to send Gardner on her way.

Perry and Litchfield steadied Australia with a 79-run fifth-wicket stand to put pressure back on the hosts, with left-hander Litchfield in particular the aggressor, hitting three sixes and four fours.

But when she fell to the bowling of Amonjot Kaur one run shy of her half-century in the 15th over, the wickets started to tumble as Australia lost 6-29.

Grace Harris’ much-hyped recall to Australia’s XI lasted two balls before she was trapped lbw by Patil for one, before Annabel Sutherland (12) became Sadhu’s fourth victim.

Perry was caught on the rope trying to dispatch Sharma over the long-on boundary for what would have been her third maximum in the 19th, and while Wareham (5) hammered one straight boundary down the ground, she was the final wicket to fall on the second ball of the 20th over.

Australia will look to level the series when the teams meet at the same venue on Sunday night.

Australia's CommBank Tour of India

Test match: India won by eight wickets

First ODI: Australia won by six wickets

Second ODI: Australia won by three runs

Third ODI: Australia won by 190 runs

January 5: India won by nine wickets

January 7: Second T20I, DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai

January 9: Third T20I, DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai

Australia squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Heather Graham, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham

India T20 squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Yastika Bhatia, Richa Ghosh, Amanjot Kaur, Shreyanka Patil, Mannat Kashyap, Saika Ishaque, Renuka Singh, Titas Sadhu, Pooja Vastrakar, Kanika Ahuja, Minnu Mani