Overawed: India left to rue defining final moment

After all the talk suggesting Australia's T20 World Cup defence might falter in the face of huge expectation heaped upon them for a year or more leading into the tournament, Meg Lanning's team took an almost eerie feeling of calm into the biggest game of their collective careers.

And as a result, the long-awaited final before 86,174 fans at the MCG was effectively exposed as a one-sided contest after the completion of the opening over.

In the course of six deliveries from off-spinner Deepti Sharma, India revealed themselves to be overawed by the occasion they had entered as the only unbeaten team of the campaign while their opponents seemed surreally serene.

Deepti began with a knee-high full-toss that Alyssa Healy welcomed with the sort of nerve-settling gusto she would normally unleash at the first tee, landing it over mid-wicket for an ominously authoritative boundary that set her on track for a player-of-the-match innings.

A further two full-tosses immediately followed, and when Healy (by then on nine) slapped the fifth delivery of that opening salvo to the left of Shafali Verma at extra cover - who duly turfed the straightforward chance – the final's course seemed unerringly set.

Verma, the 16-year-old sensation who has risen to the top of the world's T20 batting rankings, cut a disconsolate figure in the wake of her costly error, and her demeanour told Australia their rivals were ripe for the taking.

"She's young and she's got a lot of learning to do," Australia seamer Megan Schutt, whose 4-18 in India's failed run chase ensured she finished as the tournament's leading wicket-taker, said of Verma's all-too-obvious disappointment.

"In the game of cricket, body language is everything and you don’t want the opposition to know when they're on top of you.

"That was obviously a pretty costly drop.

"She's got a long future ahead of her but one thing she's going to have to do is hide her emotions."

From that defining moment, Australia barely stumbled while India could simply not find their feet.

Healy's opening partner Beth Mooney – subsequently named player of the tournament for her 259 runs including 78 from 54 balls in the final – was given a reprieve on eight when spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad spilled a simple return catch.

If there existed any doubt as to the disparity between the teams in both confidence and competence, it came when Healy finally holed out in the 12th over with 75 (from 39 balls) against her name and 115 already blazing on the MCG scoreboard.

The exuberant fist-pumping manner in which the lucky bowler, Radha Yadav, celebrated the overdue breakthrough coupled with the verbal send-offs the India fielders sent Healy's way brought howls of delighted laughter from the Australia dug-out as the star opener departed to a standing ovation.

"I probably can't share what was said to me on the way off the field, but I literally just said to the group that we're right under their skin here," Healy revealed in the wake of Australia's 85-run triumph.

"The way they reacted when I got out, the way they gave me a gobful on the way off just meant we were right under their skin, we were right at the front of this game, and if we just kept driving it home, that we'd be all right."

The excitement generated on the Australia bench was also felt by Healy's opening partner who stepped up her attack on the bowlers after her partner was dismissed.

"I think they gave her a gobful when she got out," Mooney said of Healy's exit.

"But I've said it before in the past, you know you're on top when they're finding ways to have a crack at you.

"In high pressure situations you see different sides of people, and you get a bit of white line fever."

It wasn't only the outburst of frustration let loose by India's fielders that articulated the state of a game already effectively beyond the reach of the visitors midway through their bowling innings as Australia eyed 200.

The manner in which Healy and Mooney had gone about setting up Australia's charge was precisely as the defending champions had planned, which in turn told skipper Meg Lanning they were on track to deliver their most complete performance of the tournament, and indeed the entire home summer.

Image Id: 509FB4A4C92646B9828EC36219DEA7D8 Image Caption: Champions. Again // Getty

"We spoke just before we went out to bat about playing good cricket shots to settle the nerves down," Lanning said in the game's aftermath.

"Obviously, after the anthems and the crowd roaring and stuff like that, emotions are pretty high. 

"So we actually just spoke about calming the game down … and that first over was the perfect example of that. 

"Midge (Healy) just played nice shots – she didn't force anything, and it was all natural.

"After that first over, there was a big sort of sigh from the group. 

"We were all ready, and we sort of just got into the game. 

"So Beth and Midge just set the game up for us beautifully. 

"They calmed the dug-out down, and from then on, it was all pretty smooth."

India's only hope of chasing down the biggest total posted in a T20 World Cup final was seemingly for Verma, the renowned big-hitter who can rival Healy with the speed and brutality she puts bowlers under pressure, to get going and bat deep.

But just as India's bowling innings had begun poorly, so too was their batting effort instructive from the outset.

Verma aimed a hefty drive at Schutt's opening delivery, and seemed convinced it would find the straight boundary only for it to check on the soft turf upon pitching near the rope, with the India openers pocketing only a pair of runs when three clearly beckoned.

As a result, Verma found herself back on strike and then on her way back to the sheds after Schutt's third ball which she had tried to guide deftly – at odds with her natural game – only for it to kiss the angled bat face and lodge snugly in Healy's wicketkeeping gloves.

With their best-performed batter removed in the opening over, India's top-order went into free fall with their woes compounded by the concussion suffered by number three Taniya Bhatia who was struck on the helmet while aiming an ungainly sweep at spinner Jess Jonassen.

As India captain Harmanpreet Kaur noted in the aftermath of their defeat, the tone set in the opening over effectively defined her team's evening.

"When you lose half chances, and then it's hard for a bowler to get that confidence back," Kaur said of India's disastrous start that saw Australia race to 0-49 in the six-over power-play.

"Then I guess it's easy for a batter too because, when they get a chance, then they are just batting freely. 

"They don't have any pressure.

"I don't think we were fielding under pressure, but unfortunately, we were not able to take those chances that were very crucial because they both were in great form."

However, Kaur refused to lay culpability at the feet of Verma who was seen to be in tears and inconsolable at game's end.

"She's just 16 years old, and she's playing her first T20 World Cup," Kaur said of her precociously talented opener.

"No doubt she did really, really well (during the tournament) and she performed for us, but for a 16-year-old sometimes it's difficult to keep thinking positive and be into the game.

"It can happen from anyone, we cannot blame her.

"We were not up to the mark." 

2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup

February 21:India beat Australia by 17 runs

February 24: Australia beat Sri Lanka by five wickets

February 27: Australia beat Bangladesh by 86 runs 

March 2: Australia beat New Zealand by four runs

March 5: Australia beat South Africa by five runs

March 8: Australia beat India by 85 runs

For a full list of all World Cup fixtures, click HERE