Vizag, Mar 24: Having suffered a string of defeats at the hands of the visitors, India beat Australia by eight wickets to end the five-match T20 series on a winning note. Australia, who have dictated terms throughout, win the series 4-1.

Australia’s first defeat of the tour came in the absence of star batsman Meg Lanning. After opting to bat, a five-for by Jhulan Goswami and three wickets by Archana Das reduced Australia to 89 all out. The tall medium-pacer first castled Alyssa Healy for five and then removed Lisa Sthalaker; Harmanpreet Kaur followed up with the wicket of Leah Poulton. Subhalaxmi Sharma then chipped in with the wicket of Jess Cameron. Das sent back Rachel Haynes, and a little while later, dismissed Alex Blackwell and Jodie Fields in the 18th over. In the penultimate over, Goswami wrapped up the tail to end the Australian innings in 18.5 overs.

Chasing 90, Amita Sharma led the charge against the visitors. The opener scored 55 off 47 as India reached the target with 33 balls to spare. Sthalekar was the only Australian bowler to pick wickets. She claimed the wickets of Poonam Raut and Kaur who chipped in with 16 and nine runs respectively while Mithali Raj remained unbeaten on four.

Brief score: Australia 89 all out in 18.5 overs (L Poulton 30, J Goswami 5/11, A Das 3/8) lost to India 92/2 in 14.3 overs (A Sharma 55, P raut 16, L Sthalekar 2/14) by 8 wickets