Georgia Voll, Ashleigh Gardner help Australia level T20I series with convincing win over India in Canberra
Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma alongside Georgia Voll (Source: BCCI Women on X and Georgia.voll on IG)
Published - 19 Feb 2026, 05:00 PM• Read time - 5 mins
Match Overview
Georgia Voll (88 off 57 balls) and Ashleigh Gardner (3/22) helped Australia draw level in the ongoing three-match T20I series as they beat India by 19 runs in the second game, played at the Manuka Oval in Canberra on Thursday (February 19).
Electing to field first, India were blown away by the magnificent stroke play of Voll, who smashed 11 fours and a maximum during her 71-minute stay in the middle. She accelerated fluently, batting at a strike rate of 154.38, and allowed her partner, Beth Mooney, to take her time to settle down.
Mooney (46 off 39) added 128 runs for the first wicket before Arundhati Reddy got rid of the southpaw on the penultimate delivery of the 15th over and gave India a much-needed reprieve.
She also accounted for Voll, who was unfortunate to fall 12 short of a well-deserved hundred. The tourists pulled things back dramatically as they conceded just 35 more runs in the last five overs and restricted the hosts to just 163. Reddy was the pick of all the India bowlers, who returned figures of 2/30 in her four-over spell.
In reply, India also got off to a strong start with Shafali Verma (29 off 23) and Smriti Mandhana (31 off 24) adding 57 runs in 6.3 overs before the former failed to connect an expansive sweep shot against the Aussie skipper Sophie Molineux and was pinned in front of her stumps.
It opened the floodgates, and India kept losing wickets at regular intervals and couldn't keep the required run rate in check at any stage. Harmanpreet Kaur (36 off 30) and Richa Ghosh (19 off 20) stitched a 55-run stand for the fourth wicket to keep India interested, but they perished within a span of three deliveries to concede momentum.
Ashleigh Gardner was the most prolific bowler for Australia as she claimed figures of 3/22, accounting for Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, and Deepti Sharma.
Top run-scorer of the match
|
Player |
Team |
Runs |
Balls |
Fours |
Sixes |
Strike Rate |
| Georgia Voll |
AUS |
88 |
57 |
11 |
1 |
154.38 |
Top wicket-taker of the match
|
Player |
Team |
Overs |
Maidens |
Runs |
Wickets |
Economy |
| Ashleigh Gardner |
AUS |
4 |
0 |
22 |
3 |
5.50 |
Player of the Match
Georgia Voll
Playing in just her eighth T20I, Voll looked authoritative from the outset and put the pressure back on the Indian bowlers, forcing the India skipper, Harmanpreet Kaur, to maneuver the field constantly. She laid the foundation and also deservedly adjudged the Player of the Match (POTM).
Turning Point
The wickets of Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana proved to be the turning point in the game. Both batters had gotten a measure of the wicket and were looking poised for big totals, but couldn't really kick on, and it came back to hurt India as the other batters never looked comfortable.
What the captains said
Winning Team Captain, Sophie Molineux (AUS)
"It was a good game. Volly set it up for us and India came hard like we knew they were going to and we held our nerve which is great. We didn't have to change too much. We learnt from the first game. Really proud how our bowlers held their nerve as well."
Losing Team Captain, Harmanpreet Kaur (IND)
"It happens in a chase sometimes, you collapse. While batting we should have taken more responsibility. Keeping them to a decent total was the biggest positive. I think batting we had a few good partnerships. It's about taking the game deeper and one batter taking responsibility and winning the game for the team."
