Smriti Mandhana helps India women record first series win over Australia in a decade

The Indian women’s cricket team won the three-match AUS-W vs IND-W T20 2026 series after beating Australia by 17 runs in the third game at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday.

India won the opening match of the series after beating Australia by 21 runs via DLS method in a rain-curtailed game. They lost the second game at Canberra before winning on Saturday to register their second T20 series win over the Australians with a 2-1 margin.

India last beat Australia in a women’s T20 series back in 2016.

Smriti Mandhana top-scored in the match for India, smashing 82 off 55 balls to help them post a total of 176/6.

In reply, Australia managed to score 159/9 as India’s Shreyanka Patil and Shree Charani claimed three wickets each.

Chasing 177, Australia struggled to get going as India’s opening bowlers Shreyanka Patil and Renuka Singh combined to get rid off Georgia Voll, Beth Mooney and Ellyse Perry inside the first four overs.

Phoebe Litchfield and Ashleigh Gardner looked to steady the ship with a 31-run partnership but the former’s dismissal in the ninth over further reduced Australia to 63/4 as the hosts went into the final 10 overs of the chase, needing 99 to win with six wickets in hand.

After a tight 11th over that yielded just three runs, Australia attempted to shift momentum as Georgia Wareham and Ashleigh Gardner hit a couple of timely boundaries.

However, just as Wareham looked to get going, she perished in the 13th over, falling to Arundhati Reddy.

Ashleigh Gardner brought up her fifty with a four off the 16th over before succumbing moments later as India found themselves firmly on top having reduced the hosts to 129/6.

Australia managed to add 30 runs in the last four overs of the chase, while losing three wickets as they finished on 159/9.

Earlier, after winning the toss and choosing to bat, India lost opener Shafali Verma in the third over, caught at mid-on off a sharp delivery from Kim Garth.

Jemimah Rodrigues and Smriti Mandhana then went on to build a 121-run partnership for the second wicket to put India in command of the contest.

Making full use of the fielding restrictions, Mandhana and Rodrigues took the attack to Australia, striking three boundaries in the sixth over to lift India to 54/1 at the end of the powerplay.

Once the field spread, the duo shifted gears with maturity, rotating the strike efficiently while still finding the fence at regular intervals to keep the scoring rate healthy.

Mandhana brought up her fifty with a six off 38 balls and followed it up with a flurry of boundaries and maximums before she was caught at deep midwicket off Annabel Sutherland’s bowling in the 17th over.

Jemimah Rodrigues brought up her fifty off 41 deliveries in the following over, while new batter Richa Ghosh looked to inject late momentum with a brisk cameo, hitting a pair of fours and a six.

However, Australia closed out the innings by striking four times in the final two overs - removing both Rodrigues and Ghosh - as India were restricted to just 13 runs in a late squeeze.

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