India vs Australia: International Women’s Cricket Series ends on a high

The 2021 tour of the Indian women’s cricket team to Australia ended on a high and deepened bilateral ties further. The series kick-started in an impressive manner in Mackay on the 21st of September after Queensland embraced the opportunity for hosting the series, following Victoria and New South Wales being ruled out as the venues for the series, due to the Covid-outbreak and extended lockdowns in the states. The three one-day internationals in Mackay were all sold out events which demonstrated how eager the fans were to go out and have some fun, especially in regional Queensland, amidst continued Covid-19 battering in other states.

Aiming to make the matches in Mackay a grand spectacle, the Mackay Cricket Association, the Great Barrier Reef Arena and Queensland Cricket deserve a special appreciation for making the ground ready for matches and that too, at such a short notice. The facilities and ground conditions would make any top cricketing venues in the world proud, for which the ground staff, Queensland Cricket and Cricket Australia deserve our commendations. Then the two teams came to Gold Coast for the one-off test match and three T20s at the Metricon Stadium. Unfortunately, the test match and the first T20 were washed out by rain without a result. The remaining two T20s were hardfought and both sides put up a strong show, much to the delight of the fans on the ground. In the end, Australia emerged better of the two teams. In the words of former Australian cricketer and current commentator Lisa Sthalekar, “Both teams played tough cricket, and India challenged Australia to the fullest. But Australia was able to win key moments and that separated a quality team from a good one”. Thanks to our women in Blue, and in Green and Gold, for enduring the pains of the Covid bubble and ensuring a safe and uninterrupted entertainment for all.

India News in conjunction with Queensland Cricket, Cricket Australia, Australia India Business Council and the Indian Community of Gold Coast covered the series to publicize it widely for the local, national and 1.3 billion fans in India. The excitement continues as the Indian fans will now be able to see some of the Indian players in action in the Women Big Bash League (WBBL). These include Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues (Melbourne Renegades), Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma (Sydney Thunder), Shefali Verma and Radha Yadav (Sydney Sixers), Richa Ghosh (Hobart Hurricanes) and Poonam Yadav (Brisbane Heat).