Alyssa Healy: Player of the Match in India vs Australia Women's T20 World Cup final

Healy not only struck a blistering knock of 78 runs but also shared a mammoth 115-run partnership with opening partner Beth Mooney (78) for the opening wicket.

Image Credits: Twitter/@cricketworldcup

Indian opener Alyssa Healy was on Sunday declared Player of the Match after she displayed a stellar show with the bat to help defending champion Australia beat India by 85 runs in the final of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Women's T20 World Cup at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

With the win, Australia have lifted the fifth title at the showpiece event. 

After Australia opted to bat first, opener Alyssa Healy not only struck a blistering knock of 75 runs but also shared a mammoth 115-run partnership with partner Beth Mooney (78*) for the opening wicket to help Australia set a good target of 185 runs for the first-time finalist in their stipulated 20 overs.

In her blistering knock of 39 deliveries, Healy also smashed seven boundaries and five sixes in front of her husband and Australian pacer Mitchell Starc--who missed his side's third ODI against South Africa to watch her wife. 

While picking up the Player of the Match award, Healy admitted that she had a lot of fun while batting alongside Mooney at the top of the order in front of a packed home crowd. 

"That was unbelievable, thank you everyone. You cannot wipe the smile off the my place. Even if we lost this game. I never thought I would get this opportunity. It was something really special. I go out there and take my game on, it's the nature of my game. Just feeding off the crowd tonight was something different for us tonight," ESPNcricinfo quoted Healy as saying. 

"Moons was sensational tonight, she sort of got off strike and let me do my thing. We're having a lot of fun at the top and hopefully, we can stay together at the top a little bit longer," she added. 

In reply, the Indian batters failed to counter Australia's bowling attack and fell like a pack of cards to get eventually bundled out for 99 runs. Deepti was the highest scorer for the Women in Blue with 33 runs. 

Megan Schutt was the pick of the bowlers for Australia as she bagged four wickets while conceding just 18 runs, followed by Jess Jonassen's figures of three for 20. Sophie Molineux, Delissa Kimmince and Nicola Carey also chipped in with a wicket each for the hosts.