Unknown India heroes catch Stars unawares

Before today's match at the Adelaide Oval, the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars were each assigned the task of investigating an opposition India player.

It was a job tackled with a combination of Google and YouTube, made more difficult by the scarcity of data on many women's players and the fact they had not played their subcontinent rivals in almost three years.

Quick Single: Full report and highlights from 1st T20 international

Of the teams that met in India in 2012, only five players from each country took part in today's match, while no Indian players were part of this summer’s Rebel Women’s Big Bash League.

WATCH: Harmanpreet Kaur carves up the Southern Stars

Ahead of the series, Stars coach Matthew Mott admitted the fourth-ranked women’s team were somewhat of an unknown.

"Their squad has changed quite a bit since the last time we played them, with a few new names and young faces we're not familiar with," Mott said earlier this month.

"But they'll have very skilled players and they're looking to put a lot more into their female program as well, so it's only a matter of time before they're a real force in women's cricket."

Watch: Alison Mitchell's T20 match wrap

It's safe to say after Tuesday's five-wicket loss to India at Adelaide Oval, the Southern Stars will now know quite a bit more about their opponents and more importantly, exactly how dangerous they are.

The talents of captain Mithali Raj and vice-captain Jhulan Goswami are well known – both veterans sit high in the International Cricket Council's player rankings and have toured Australia previously.

WATCH: Healy-Blackwell partnership propels Stars

But in Adelaide, it was 26-year-old Harmanpreet Kaur who stole the show, smashing 46 from 31 balls to secure a record run chase for the hosts. Her talent isn't a surprise, she is ranked No.7 in the ODI batting rankings, but the ease with which she disposed of Australia's world class bowling was enthralling to watch.

And while Raj missed out, dismissed for four, Mandhana (29 off 25) and Veda Krishnamurthy (35 from 32) also took the chase to the Australians, setting the stage for Harmanpreet, as India chased down Australia's 5-140 with eight balls to spare.

"Speaking honestly, it (the total) was enough, I think," Southern Stars wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy said after the match.

"Going into the bowling innings we would have been comfortable with 140, but they played out of their skins and chased it down with ease in the end.

WATCH: Stars batters commentate through over

"It's a little hard not playing them very often, I had to do some homework on one player, taking hours to look through YouTube."

It wasn't an excuse from Healy – she happily admitted the Australians were outplayed, on their home turf no less. It was the Stars' first loss in Australia since the 2013-14 Ashes.

"They played with some real freedom and obviously with that fight we know have and they showed us how to play T20 cricket today," added Healy.

"At one stage the run rate (required by India) was over eight, we'd be pretty comfortable with that but Harmanpreet played an incredible innings and found the boundary with ease."

WATCH: Healy's highlight reel torches India

Harmanpreet, an aggressive batter who models herself on India legend Virender Sehwag, said she never felt the match was out of reach, even when the wickets of Mandhana and Krishnamurphy sent the run rate climbing.

"They gave us a good start. We were going at six per over and we needed eight per over. I just wanted to keep on rotating the strike initially and later on I went into my full flow for boundaries," Harmanpreet said.

The Southern Stars, who successfully defended a total of 107 in England during last year's Ashes – albeit on pitches less friendly to batsman than those in Australia have been this summer – now have two days to consider the sort of total that may be required for Friday's second T20 International at the MCG.

"I think we’ll go back and look at the way we played and we really honest with the things we could have done better," Healy said.