That brings us to the end of our coverage for this match. The two teams will lock horns again for the third and final match of the series, which will be played on Wednesday, March 26. While it is essentially a dead rubber, World Champions New Zealand will want to salvage some pride by winning that one. For now, the attention will shift to the New Zealand's men's side, who are supposed to be taking on Pakistan in the 4th T20I in a little while from now. Switch tabs to join the coverage of that game.
From here, it is the troika of Darpan Tikiya, Anirudh Modi and Dushyant Singh Madhukar signing off. Kia ora!
Tahlia McGrath (Australia Women's captain): "It was a pretty clinical performance and exactly how we wanted to play. All our batters contributed and we kept the momentum with the ball. Mooney is on another level, but just understanding the strengths of individuals and everyone that comes in knows they can play with freedom, we have got the firepower in the shed.
So pleased for her, she always had raw talent and pace, but she has developed tactically and she is showing her talent in this series. Sutherland is amazing, she keeps the stumps in play with her lengths. Little bit of fire, we are playing against World Champions and we want to be World Champions, 3-0 at Wellington will be a job well done."
Suzie Bates (New Zealand captain): "Tough again. Their batting is putting us under pressure. We went away from our strengths and they really put us under pressure. We tried to come back with the bat in hand but failed. You chat about your Plan A and Plan B before the game. For Australia, you even have a Plan C. But our execution has been off. It is about executing for a long time. Australia showed us how. Their strike rates have put us under pressure. "
Beth Mooney | Player of the Match: "It's obviously nice to contribute towards win, I just focus on getting better and I have a few people around me to help me do that.
I'm just making a conscious effort to hit with more conviction early in my innings, but I've got Voll at the other end, who is flying! When I see her do that, I don't want her to get ahead of me and that's how competitive our relationship is.
We have got a production line of young players coming through, you cannot take it easy as a senior and that's a culture we have developed. It's amazing to see the energy the youngsters bring."
Player of the Match: Beth Mooney
Time for the post match presentation ceremony..
10:22 AM IST, 5:52 PM local time | Australia Women win by 82 runs and seal the series 2-0.
Here is a fun fact that might blow your mind — this is Australia Women's first T20 series win in New Zealand. And given the domineering fashion in which they have achieved it, they can certainly be very proud of it.
Their intent to take the game on was on display from the offset. Openers Georgia Voll and Beth Mooney took them off to a flying start. Even before the end of the powerplay, Australia had managed to put more than 60 runs on the board.
The younger partner's rollicking start was cut short as she fell prey to a sharp bumper from Sophie Devine. However, that did not put any brakes on the rate of scoring. The visitors continued to pile them on at a galloping rate. New Zealand were guilty of bowling too many poor balls. They failed to string in six good deliveries through most overs which meant that a boundary hitting opportunity was always around the corner. Mooney made the most of it. She was helped further by the two missed stumping opportunities. She scored 70 (42) at an impressive strike rate of 166.66. Cameos from Litchfield, Perry and Sutherland helped Australia cross the 200-run mark.
The chase was always going to be tough. But New Zealand were ready to give it their all. They too put bold intent on display in the embryonic stages of the innings. However, Annabel Sutherland's double strike in the 6th over pegged them back and there was no turning around. White Ferns kept on losing wickets at regular intervals from there on and hence, never looked like getting anywhere near the target. Australia were sans the experience of Ashleigh Gardner and Megan Schutt today. But it did not matter. McGrath didn't even require to summon Ellyse Perry into the attack. Yet, New Zealand were bowled out within 17 overs for only 122. Amelia Kerr's 40 (36), which again was not her fluent most knock, was the only real positive. Special mention to leg spinner Alana King, who was given the new ball today and repaid the faith by dismissing Suzie Bates in her first over. She ended up picking three wickets.