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India chose to bat and posted a difficult 154 for eight. However, Australia won by three wickets with an over to spare.
Digital Desk: Renuka Singh's dream spell for India was not enough as Australia came back from a three-wicket deficit to win the Commonwealth Games group A opener in Birmingham on Friday.
The target of 155 should have been easy to chase, but Renuka, who was playing only her seventh T20, broke the backbone of the Australian batting with four for 18 in four overs.
With Australia on 49 for 5, India should have finished the job, but Ashleigh Gardner (52 not out off 35 balls) changed the game in two game-changing stands of 51 and 47 with Grace Harris (37) and Alana King (18 not out).
In the end, Australia easily defeated the target, demonstrating that the reigning T20 and ODI world champions can win in any situation.
Gardner's counter-attack innings were memorable, as she used the tail to knock off the runs.
Renuka dominated the powerplay overs with a brilliant spell of fast bowling. She dismissed Alyssa Healy in the first over to keep the game interesting before dismissing Beth Mooney and Australian captain Meg Lanning.
The aggressive Tahlia McGrath was defeated by a sharp inswinger, putting India up 34 for four against their fancied opponents.
However, India lost momentum when their premier weapons, left-arm spin twins Radha Yadav (0/42 in 4 overs) and Rajeshwari Gayakwad (0/24 in 2 overs), gave away 66 runs in six overs.
Slow medium debutant Meghna Singh was also a pedestrian when Gardner and King assigned her to a leatherhunt.
Earlier, the Edgbaston crowd was entertained by Shafali Verma's (48 off 33) and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur's (52 off 34) stroke-filled innings, but the other batters disappointed.
On the first ball of the competition, Smriti Mandhana faced pacer Darcie Brown, signalling the start of a watershed moment in women's cricket, with the game aiming to reach the Olympics via the CWG route.
Although five wickets fell for 39 runs in the final five overs, the Harmanpreet-led team lost their way. During her brief visit, Smriti displayed some finesse before Shafali and Harmanpreet attacked the Australian bowlers.
With a little luck, Shafali struck Darcie for three consecutive fours in the tenth over to alert the opposition camp. As she often does, Harmanpreet began her innings with a paddle sweep off spinner Ashleigh Gardner.
She stepped out to dismiss Jess Jonassen over far on for her lone six of the innings in the 20th over, and after a sweep, she reached 50 for the seventh time in T20 Internationals.
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