India Women Vs Australia Women Highlights, 1st T20I: IND-W Win By DLS In Rain-Interrupted Opener

Good afternoon, cricket fans! This is the start of our live blog covering the IND-W vs AUS-W 1st T20I match in Sydney. Stay tuned for pre-match and toss updates as they take place.

• Fixture: India W vs Australia W, 1st T20I

• Series: India Women tour of Australia, 2026

• Venue: Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney

• Date: Sunday, February 15, 2026

• Time: 1:45 PM IST

The India Women vs Australia Women, 1st T20I will be live-streamed on the JioHotstar app and website in India. Television broadcasts will take place on the Star Sports 3 and Star Sports Select 1 (SD & HD) channels.

India Women: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Amanjot Kaur, Vaishnavi Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Shree Charani, Renuka Singh Thakur, Bharti Fulmali, Sneh Rana, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Gunalan Kamalini.

Australia Women: Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney (wk), Georgia Voll, Annabel Sutherland, Ashleigh Gardner, Tahlia McGrath, Kim Garth, Sophie Molineux (c), Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown, Grace Harris, Nicola Carey, Georgia Wareham.

This is Sophie Molineux's first game in charge of the Australia T20 team. The change at the top came after Alyssa Healy's retirement from the shortest format. India also have a change in their squad, with Bharti Fulmali making her national team comeback after almost seven years.

The India Women's tour of Australia will have points system. A win in the white-ball matches (T20Is, ODIs) will give two points, while the winner of the day-night Test will get four points. The three T20Is will be played on February 15, 19, and 21, followed by the three ODIs on Feb 24, Feb 27, and March 1. The one-off Test will be played on March 6.

The toss between India Women and Australia Women has been delayed due to rainfall, although it doesn't look to be too heavy.

The rainfall didn't last for long, and the players came back on the pitch. India captain Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and opted to bowl first.

Harmanpreet Kaur (IND-W): "Looking at the conditions we thought it was the right thing to bowl first."

Sophie Molineux (AUS-W): "I feel like with the bat we can make the most of the wet outfield."

India Women: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Kranti Gaud, Sree Charani, Renuka Singh Thakur.

Australia Women: Beth Mooney (wk), Georgia Voll, Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner, Georgia Wareham, Annabel Sutherland, Nicola Carey, Sophie Molineux (c), Kim Garth, Darcie Brown.

After the delayed start due to wet outfield, the national anthems are done and the players come out on the pitch. Mooney and Voll will open the innings for Australia. Renuka with the new ball for India.

A decent start for Australia, with Voll dispatching Renuka for back-to-back boundaries. The first one was just short of a six over mid-on, and the next ball was dispatched over midwicket.

India waste a review after Voll misses a scoop attempt off Gaud. Deepti is convinced about the caught behind appeal by the bowler, asking Harmanpreet to take the DRS, which she does at the end. UltraEdge shows a visible gap between bat and ball. The not out decision stays, and the umpire gives it as a wide – double whammy for India! The batter ends the over with a boundary.

This is the breakthrough that India wanted!! Mooney tries to hit Renuka over the park but gets a big leading edge which goes straight up in the air. A solid catch taken by Mandhana. Phoebe Litchfield is the new batter.

Back-to-back setbacks for Australia!! Voll, who was looking so dangerous in the early stages, gets a thin outside edge off Gaud's delivery which is taken by Ghosh. Ellyse Perry comes on as the new batter and gets off the mark.

What a catch from Harmanpreet! The Indian skipper turns into Superman, taking a diving catch to dismiss Perry. She had to cover a lot of ground from inside the circle and completes an acrobatic effort, and Australia lose their third wicket. Ashleigh Gardner is the new batter.

Another huge setback for Australia as Gardner is dismissed for just four by Deepti. Second catch of the night by Harmanpreet, this time a much easier effort at mid-wicket. Georgia Wareham comes on as the new batter.

The wickets keep on tumbling for Australia. Just as Litchfield was looking like she had settled down, the Aussie batter gets a thick top edge trying to play a pull shot. Easy catch for Richa Ghosh under the lights. Nicola Carey is the new batter.

The 41-run partnership between Carey and Wareham is finally broken by India, with Arundhati dismissing the latter. It was a pretty poor delivery from the bowler, but Wareham failed to capitalise on the full toss, instead holing it to Deepti at cover.

Arundhati Reddy on song! The India seamer cleans up Darcie Brown to finish with four scalps. The last four wickets fall for just 12 runs as Australia are dismissed for 133 runs in 18 overs. The visitors would fancy chasing this down. Let's see how the second innings goes.

Shafali Verma gets the Indian chase off to a breezy start by dispatching Kim Garth for a gorgeous six over cover. The reliable Smriti Mandhana is there at the other end with her.

India's chase is stopped on the tracks, not by the Australian bowling attack, but by rain. Since the early dismissal of Shafali at the start of the fifth over, new batter Jemimah Rodrigues and Smriti were starting to build a nice partnership. However, the little bit of drizzle has turned into full-on rain, and the covers are on at SCG.

As per reports, the match has been called off due to rain. India have won on DLS by 21 runs, as they were far ahead of the par score of 29.