In the Women’s T20 World Cup opening match held on Friday, Poonam Yadav Leg-spinner has bowled a magic spell in her return to lead India to a comfortable 17-run win over Australia’s defending champions.

With the batting India has battled to a par 132 below before Poonam (4/19 in 4 overs) foxed the Aussies with her googlies by making the match a decisive favorite for her side.

Australia has won the competition in six editions four times and the team was all out in 19.5 overs for 115 scores. “A bowler like Poonam is someone who leads from the front. We were expecting a great comeback from her. Our team is looking nice, earlier we depended on two-three players,” after the match India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said.

Because of hand injury, Poonam has missed the previous tri-series but has also got support including pacer Shikha Pandey from other bowlers.

“It was great for me to come back from injury and perform like this. It was the third time that I was on a hat-trick but satisfied that I was able to do the job for the team,” Poonam said at a presentation after the match.

With opener, Alyssa Healy Australia started their chase well by making a 35-ball 51 with six boundaries and a six. The tournament opener saw a record attendance of 13,000 plus helping India with a large chunk. India next plays in Perth on February 24, against Bangladesh.

In 16th over to bring up the 100 Deepti has shared 53 runs with Jemimah Rodrigues (26 off 33). For Australia, the other wicket-takers were Ellyse Perry (1/15), and Delissa Kimmince (1/24).