Groggy start for India as plans go awry

When an in-form batting order capsizes to provide only 113 runs for seven wickets on a batting paradise, you pretty much know where the match is headed. On Monday (March 12) in Vadodara, after India's rollicking start, Megan Schutt took the pace off the ball and put Smriti Mandhana under the pump by allowing her only two scoring opportunities in a three-over spell she sent down to her just before being taken off the attack, surprisingly. The mighty pressure of dot balls got to the left-hander who went down on one knee for a slog sweep off Ashleigh Gardener but failed to middle it. Meg Lanning took a back-pedalling catch and that started the procession.

Schutt then outsmarted Harmanpreet Kaur with a fast leg-break that the Indian stand-in skipper failed to read, falling for a laboured 29-ball nine just after they had lost a positive-looking Deepti Sharma in the previous over. Promising leg-spinner Amanda-Jade Wellington then laid out a perfect bait for Veda Krishnamurthy - a generously flighted delivery outside her off-stump, inviting the dashing batter to drive, which she did albeit uppishly towards cover. Only, Australia had Beth Mooney stationed exactly for such an opportunity.

In the absence of India's saviour Mithali Raj, these were the three big wickets Australia needed to tighten their grip on the