Australia crush India to secure World Cup title on landmark night

Australia’s years of dominance in women’s cricket were franked on Sunday night at the MCG as Meg Lanning’s side crushed India in the Twenty20 World Cup final on a landmark night for women’s sport in this country.

While tournament organisers were narrowly denied the world record crowd for a standalone women’s sporting event that they had so craved, an Australian record 86,174 fans poured into the nation’s most famous stadium on International Women’s Day, witnessing the coronation of a team that has for so long been the best in the women’s game.

Schutt to thrill: The Australian women's team celebrate after Megan Schutt (second from right) dismissed India's Shikha Pandey in the T20 World Cup final at the MCG.Credit: AAP

After a pre-match entree from pop star Katy Perry, who accompanied by dancing cricket bats and signs spruiking girl power performed her hits Roar and Firework - main course came in the form of a blitz from opener Alyssa Healy (75 from 39 balls) whose clean hitting catapulted Australia towards what became their fifth T20 world title after captain Lanning won the toss and elected to bat.

Both Healy and fellow opener Beth Mooney (78 not out from 54 balls) made India pay for early dropped catches, leading Australia to a commanding 4-184.

With their semi-final against England having been washed out, India entered the final having not played a match in eight days. They looked short of a gallop, with the ball, in the field, and then with the bat, falling feebly in their chase, bowled out for 99 in the final over.

Healy had entered the tournament on the back of a barren run but those struggles will be consigned to a footnote of history.

On the charge: Australian opener Alyssa Healy on her way to a rapidfire 75 off 39 balls.Credit: AAP

With her husband Mitchell Starc watching on after being granted an early return from Australia’s tour of South Africa, Healy pulled the match in her side’s direction from the outset.

Starc famously lit up the 2015 World Cup final at the same venue by bowling New Zealand linchpin Brendon McCullum in the match's first over.

Healy started in a blaze of glory too, despatching the first ball of the match - bowled by Indian off-spinner Deepti Sharma - through deep mid-wicket for four. Sharma, perhaps overawed by the extraordinary crowd, bowled three consecutive full tosses to start the Australian innings.

However she should’ve had Healy removed for nine from just the fifth ball of the match. One of Perry’s famous tunes is Teenage Dream, but this was a teenage nightmare for 16-year-old Indian star Shafali Verma, who spilled the early chance at cover.

Record-breakers: Spectators in the crowd participate in a Mexican wave during the ICC Women's T20 Cricket World Cup Final match between India and Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.Credit: Getty Images

Healy rode her luck, finishing with seven fours and five sixes before holing out to long-on off the bowling of Radha Yadav. The highlight of Healy’s innings was her run of three straight sixes from Shikha Pandey in the 11th over, the third of which - hit over extra cover - led former Australian captain Michael Clarke to say on the match broadcast that “you’ll never see better than that. It doesn’t matter, male or female.”

Mooney’s knock was somewhat more sedate but similarly effective - especially with some inventive strokes late. However she too survived a chance, dropped on eight when Rajeshwari Gayakwad couldn’t hang onto a return catch.

Australia couldn’t quite maintain the rage once Healy departed, with only Lanning reaching double figures of the other Australian batters. But even on a flat MCG wicket, India were always going to face an uphill battle in the face of such a commanding score.

The match was effectively finished as a contest within a couple of overs of the chase. Verma’s horror match continued when she edged Megan Schutt to glovewoman Healy for two. Taniya Bhatia retired hurt the following over after being hit in the helmet trying to sweep Aussie tweaker Jess Jonassen, who snared the wicket of Bhatia’s replacement Jemimah Rodrigues for a duck when Nicola Carey snaffled a catch at mid-on.

Support role: Injured Australian allrounder Ellyse Perry watched on as her side dominated.Credit: AAP

Smriti Mandhana (11) picked out Carey at mid-off from the first ball of Sophie Molineux’s spell before Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur - on her 31st birthday - became Jonassen’s second victim, caught in the deep for seven to leave India 4-30 in the sixth over, by which stage only the final margin was in question. Schutt finished with 4-18, while Jonassen took 3-20.

The mark of 90,185 fans set at California’s Rose Bowl for the 1999 women's soccer World Cup final still stands as a record, however Sunday night’s crowd was more than the 80,000 who attended the 1997 women's cricket World Cup final at Eden Gardens - the previous high for a women’s cricket match - and comfortably greater than the 53,034 drawn to Adelaide Oval for last year’s AFLW grand final, which had been the record for a standalone women’s sporting event in Australia.