Beth Mooney recently toppled Shafali Verma to become the number one ranked T20 batter in the ICC rankings. Mooney played a pivotal role in Australia's win in the multi-format series against India in 2021. Apart from the one-off test match, Mooney made contributions in almost all matches.
She was the top scorer in the ODI series, making 177 runs from just two innings at a strike rate of close to 90 with the help of 18 boundaries.
Australia were gone for all money in the second ODI when chasing a massive target of 275, the team was struggling at 52/4 when Beth Mooney and Tyla McGrath joined hands. It was courtesy of Mooney's unbeaten 125 off 133 deliveries with 12 boundaries that Australia were able to win the last ball thriller.
"That's going to give us a huge boost, especially leading into that World Cup. We've been in that situation before against India, obviously in that 2017 semi, and they're a world-class side. To be composed the whole way through that innings with someone like Tahlia McGrath, who hasn't played a lot of international cricket, shows the gains we've made in domestic cricket."
"And the importance of getting new people in this squad, involved in games and exposed to these kinds of series. It's pretty remarkable we came back from that to win. That will give us a huge amount of belief that pretty much anybody in this team can win us a game from anywhere. I hope I can still get better. I was a bit annoyed at myself at the start. We just keep churning out these players who come out on the big stage and look like they've been there for years," Mooney said after Australia's victory.
She scored another crucial 52 in the third ODI but India were able to just get over the line. In the last two T20s as well, Mooney made vital contributions. Her 34 was instrumental in taking Australia to victory in a low scoring thriller in the 2nd T20I.
In the final match of the series, Mooney struck 61 to ensure that Australia posted a total in excess of 150 and made it very difficult for India to chase it down, given the bowling attack that the hosts possessed
Mooney has now scored 1347 runs from 44 ODIs at an average of 43.45 and a healthy strike rate with the help of two centuries and 9 half centuries.
