India lose 3rd T20I by 14 runs

Gold Coast, Oct 10 (PTI): The Indian women’s team committed batting harakiri despite a fine half century from opener Smriti Mandhana to lose the third and final T20 International by 14 runs as Australia clinched the multi-format series by 11-5 margin.
Australia won four of the six white ball games (three WODIs and three WT20Is) which paved way for an easy series win with Indians playing well only in patches.
Chasing a challenging 150-run target, Mandhana smashed 52 off 49 balls and shared 57 runs with Jemimah Rodrigues (23 off 26) for the second wicket to set the platform for India before the visitors lost four wickets in a span of 10 runs to lose the plot.
For Australia, right-arm pacer Nicola Carey (2/42) was the pick of the bowlers, while Ashleigh Gardner (1/22), Annabel Sutherland (1/13) and Georgia Wareham (1/15) scalped a wicket each.
India thus ended their Australia tour heartbroken, having already lost the three-match ODI series 1-2 before drawing the rain-marred lone historic day/night Test.
Earlier, opener Beth Monney scored a half-century while Tahlia McGrath provided late flourish with an unbeaten 44 to help Australia put on board a decent 149 for five.
Opting to field first after winning the toss, the Indian bowlers picked up wickets at regular intervals but the hosts scored 40 runs in the last 19 balls to seize the momentum.
Left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad (2/37), Renuka Singh (1/23), Pooja Vastrakar (1/24) and off-spinner Deepti Sharma (1/24) were the wicket-takers for India as Australian batters struggled to score freely in the middle overs.