Indian women's cricket team ends Australia's record 26-match winning streak in ODI

The Indian women's cricket team finally puts an end to Australia's record 26-match winning streak in ODI as they beat the host nation by 2 wickets on Sunday at the third and last one-day international being played in the 2021 Australi tour.

The Australian women's team won the toss and opt to bat first in the match. They posted a total of 264-9 of 50 overs. Australia's middle-order batter Ashleigh Gardner scored the highest run of 67 for the hosts, after she was dismissed by Pooja Vastrakar, caught by the Indian skipper Mithali Raj. Beth Mooney scored a half-century and was bowled over by Sneh Rana at 52. Tahlia McGrath also registered a crucial 47, dismissed by Vastrakar.

Vastrakar and Jhulan Goswami both picked up three wickets each, with the latter having the best economy rate of 3.70. Jhulan also crossed her 600 career wickets in the match.

In response, India commenced their innings in a smooth manner, Smriti Mandhana was dismissed at 22 by Gardner. From 59/1, India relied on a super partnership by Shafali Verma (56) and Yastika Bhatia (64), leading to Verma's dismissal by Molineux leading to 160/2. Despite, a well-desired flow of runs, India started losing quick successive wickets with Sutherland dismissing Richa Ghosh, Mithali and Vastrakar. Deepti Sharma played out anchoring innings of 31 runs coming out in the middle that kept the run-rate in sync for the Indian team.

Sneh Rana's swashbuckling innings 30 runs of 27 deliveries laced by five fours almost did the job for India but her attempt to pull a ball fell short, landing in the hands of Darlington. With just five needed in the last over, Meghna Singh and Jhulan Goswami slowly carried the team through quick singles and ended with a boundary from Goswami to reach 266/8 and beat the hosts and end their winning streak. Australia's winning streak in ODI started with a 3-0 series win against India in 2018. It was the highest winning streak in any format of cricket including men and women. Men's highest winning streak in ODI was of 21 matches held by Australia under Ricky Ponting from January 2003 to May 2003.