Ashleigh Gardner and Grace Harris' remarkable partnership, followed by a Heather Graham hat-trick and a decisive 54-run victory in the fifth and final T20I and 4-1 series victory over the hosts at Brabourne Stadium, here on Tuesday, allowed Australia Women to cap off their tour of India in grand fashion.
The undefeated 129-run combination between Gardner (66 not out off 32) and Harris (64 not out off 35) helped Australia to 196-4, their best series total, thanks to their impressive display of timing and power.
When India was bowled out for 142 on the final ball of the innings, the 26-year-old Graham pulled up 4-8, including a hat-trick spread over two overs, securing an Australian victory of 4-1. In the 13th over, she dismissed Radha Yadav ((0)) and Devika Vaidya (11) and came back to bowl Renuka Thakur with the first ball of the last over.
Graham, 26, who was just playing her third T20I, became the second Australian woman to take a hat-trick in the format. At the same location in 2018, Megan Schutt became the first to accomplish the feat.
For the fourth time in a row, India gave the ball to Australia, who batted first. To replace the injured Alyssa Healy, left-handed opener Beth Mooney was joined by fellow left-hander Phoebe Litchfield at the top of the order. But after just seven balls, the fresh new opening partnership was broken as Mooney was dispatched by Anjali Sarvani.
Litchfield's picture-perfect straight drive earned her her first international cricket boundary, but she was unable to continue and was caught for 11 in Deepti Sharma's over.
The No.3 Tahlia McGrath began her debut innings as Australia's captain with two maximums, but it was cut short when she was stumped after 26 off 26. Ellyse Perry (18) was denied a third consecutive half-century when she holed out to long-on in the tenth over after cutting to the boundary off the first ball.
When Harris and Gardner joined forces in the 10th over of the innings, Australia was 72/4. What followed was a bloodbath as they slammed 129 runs at a rate of 12.64 off the next 10.2 overs.
Gardner quickly reached her half-century in just 26 deliveries, but Harris took 28 balls to reach his first international fifty. Harris smashed 4 sixes and 6 fours, while Gardner only once cleared the rope but was devastating down the ground, hitting 11 fours.
After posting a huge score, Darcie Brown removed Smriti Mandhana (4) from the game in the opening over, and Shafali Verma (13) holed out to Gardner in the fifth over.
After moving up to No. 3, Harleen Doel made a strong start, but a mistake led to her being run out for a 16-ball 24. India was in serious difficulty at 70-5 in 9.2 overs when Harmanpreet Kaur (12) was stranded lbw and Richa Ghosh (10) was expertly taken on the line by Graham.
With an unbeaten 34-ball 53, Deepti Sharma gave the boisterous audience something to cheer about late on, but India fell far short of their target of 198. Gardner, who took 2-20 off her four overs, once again excelled for Australia in addition to Graham.
With this, Australia put an end to a year in which they won the gold at the Commonwealth Games and the one-day World Cup, as well as bilateral series against England and India and a tri-series against Ireland and Pakistan.
Brief scores: Australia Women 196/4 in 20 overs (Gardner 66 not out, Harris 64 not out) beat India Women 142 all out in 20 overs (Deepti 53; Gardner 2-20) by 54 runs