Women's Triangular T20 series: India beat Australia by seven wickets in 5th match
Melbourne: Smriti Mandhana slammed a superb half-century as India produced an improved batting show to notch up a seven-wicket win over Australia in the fifth T20, keeping themselves in the hunt for the finals at the women's triangular series here on Saturday.
Put in to bat, Australia posted 173 for 5, riding on a 57-ball 93 by Ashleigh Gardner and Meg Lanning's 22-ball 37 after India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and elected to field at Junction Oval.
India then returned to overhaul the target, scoring 177 for three in 19.4 overs.
Sixteen-year-old Shafali Verma finally came good, blasting a 28-ball 49 to give India a flying start. Her innings contained eight fours and a six.
Smriti Mandhana (55) also smashed seven boundaries in her 48-ball innings to anchor the tricky chase. Jemimah Rodrigues also came out all cylinders blazing, making a quickfire 19-ball 30 with five fours. In the end, skipper Harmanpreet (20 off 20 balls) and Deepti Sharma (11 off 4 balls) took the team home.
Earlier, Gardner sent the ball across the fence 11 times and blasted three sixes in her 57-ball innings to emerge as the top-scorer for Australia.
For India, Deepti Sharma (2/27) was the most outstanding bowler, snapping two wickets, while Rajeshwari Gayakwad (1/34), Radha Yadav (1/34) and Harleen Deol (1/21) took one wicket each.
Ellyse Perry (1/33), Megan Schutt (1/26) and Nicola Carey (1/27) accounted for one wicket each for Australia.
With this win, India moved to the second position in the points table, behind England.
India had lost to Australia and England by an identical four-wicket margin in their last two matches in the series.
Australia will take on England in the final league match of the series on Sunday.
Brief Score:
Australia women: 173 for five in 20 overs (Ashleigh Gardner 93; Deepti Sharma 2/27).
India women: 177 for three in 19.4 overs (Smriti Mandhana 55, Shafali Verma 49; Megan Schutt 1/26).
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Maharashtra sets up state vaccination task force to strengthen immunisation programme
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has set up a State Vaccination Task Force to strengthen the regular immunisation programme and review the progress of related campaigns, a health department official said on Monday.
The State Vaccination Task Force will comprise at least 29 members and will be headed by the administrative head of the health department, he informed.
The government has also constituted separate district-level and municipal vaccination task forces to improve implementation and address challenges at the grassroots level, he said.
Municipal task forces, chaired by respective civic commissioners, have been constituted in view of the vast urban population in Maharashtra and the role of civic bodies in implementing different health programmes.
The district-level task forces will function under the chairmanship of collectors.
"Complete immunisation of children at the appropriate age is an extremely simple, cost-effective and highly effective measure to reduce child mortality and the prevalence of diseases among kids. Immunisation is a powerful tool for reducing illness in children," maintained the official.
To ensure full vaccination of all children, the state government implements various campaigns from time to time as per the central government guidelines, he pointed out.
"Active participation and cooperation of other relevant government departments are essential (in making these campaigns successful)," according to the official.
The state-level body will review the regular immunisation programme, associated campaigns and vaccine-preventable diseases in detail. It will also conduct focused assessments of high-risk districts and municipal corporations, including vacancies at district, municipal and sub-district levels, availability of cold chain equipment, resource gaps and training requirements, he noted.
The state task force will review allocation and utilisation of funds for immunisation and ensure timely action by officers concerned based on reports from district and municipal task forces and state-level monitoring mechanisms, the official said.
It will also ensure active coordination and participation of other government departments in immunisation drives, while district and municipal task forces will carry out similar functions at their respective levels, the official added.
