India’s chances of qualifying for the T20 World Cup semi-finals were destroyed after losing to Australia by nine runs in a pivotal match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. In the latter moments of a tight chase of 151, Harmanpreet Kaur made a heroic, unbroken 54* and looked like she could unseat the world champions.
Still, there was no miracle, no spectacular escape worth talking about. The Indian captain was seen slumped over her bat at the non-striker’s end, devastated by the prospect of qualification, as a plethora of wickets fell in the last over.
India now needs Pakistan to pull a favor for them in their match against New Zealand tomorrow. Conversely, the holders guaranteed themselves a spot in another World Cup semi-final.
In her debrief, Harmanpreet will review several aspects of this game again. One of those will be a five-over sequence that brought just 25 runs between overs 8 and 13, with veteran players Kaur and Deepti Sharma digging in to try to carry the chase deep. In other words, India permitted the asking rate to rise above 10. It wasn’t too horrible within the confines of the game.
After 15 overs, they were 99 for 3, while Australia was 101 for 5. But although Australia had hitting strength through their lineup, India had to rely mostly on Harmanpreet to carry the load.
Harmanpreet, batting on 27 off 31 at the time, got into gear and reached a 44-ball half-century, hitting two fours off Ash Gardner in the 18th over and another off Sophie Molineux in the 19th.
However, after reducing the equation from 40 off 18 to 14 off 6, she could not influence the outcome as Annabel Sutherland (2 for 22) produced a brilliant display of death-overs bowling.
After acting captain Tahlia McGrath called right at the toss, India had to chase again. India had lost the final and quarterfinal of the previous T20 World Cup against Australia.
After dismissing Beth Mooney in the third over with a brilliant grab at backward point, Radha immediately found herself in the thick of things on the field. When the bowler, Renuka Thakur, got the following delivery to bend in on Georgia Wareham and smacked her pad to secure an LBW shout, she made it two from two balls. If Australia’s No. 3 had chosen to review, the outcome would have been reversed because of the inflated movement in the air.
The double strike drew together McGrath and Grace Harris. The skipper of Australia got things started against the healthy-again Pooja Vastrakar with a tuck through fine leg for four. India managed to restrict Australia to a Power Play total of 37 for 2, giving up just three boundaries to the batters, thanks to Renuka’s excellent three-over stint. Still, McGrath and Harris gradually changed gears as their collaboration grew.
McGrath, the more fluid of the two batters, was relieved when Harmanpreet grounded out a simple opportunity at first base. But, no harm came as two balls later in the same over, Radha had McGrath stumped for a 26-ball 32.
Harris struck two boundaries from Arundhati Reddy in the next over, showing some rhythm. However, no sooner had she raised her strike rate to 100 than she was removed for a 41-ball 40 when Deepti Sharma was pulled straight to mid-wicket.
After 15 overs, Australia was at 101 for 5 after losing Ash Gardner in the next over as well. Australia could continue because of their depth in the lineup, even if it might have forced another team to choose more cautious approaches to bat out the entire quota of overs.
Ellyse Perry, a veteran all-rounder, gave the innings new life by driving Shreyanka Patil for four runs and then hitting the overcompensated full ball over mid-wicket for a six.
Phoebe Litchfield’s ability to play both sweeps was a nice counterbalance to Perry’s strength as she attempted to throw India’s preparations for a loop.
Perry scored a fantastic 32 off 23, but India’s slow over-rate and poor performance also hurt them, as they lost one fielder outside the ring. Australia reached 150 as Litchfield hit a six off the last ball of the innings, helping them to 50 in the last five overs.
India was up against it and needed a quick start because no team had scored even 100 against this Australian attack. At the conclusion of the second over, Shafali Verma went about supplying exactly that, sweeping Gardner for four.
In the third over, the youthful opener faced Megan Schutt and hit a four and a six by playing pick-up shots to full deliveries. After her stroke went straight down Long-on’s throat, she was out for 20 off 13 balls.
In the PowerPlay, Jemimah Rodrigues hit two beautiful lofted strokes off Annabel Sutherland for fours as India kept up the pressure. But in the sixth over, they suffered another blow when Sophie Molineux’s first ball trapped Smriti Mandhana’s leg before wicket. To read more cricket news, Aviator Predictor.
After the seventh over, Rodrigues’ innings ended with a pull shot off Schutt that went straight down the midwicket’s neck, leaving India at 48 for 3. From then on, Harmanpreet and Deepti scored 63 runs off 55 balls. Ultimately, it proved insufficient to push India over the finish line in the game’s last act.
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Quick scores: Australia defeated India 142/9 in 20 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 54*; Annabel Sutherland 2-22) by nine runs with a score of 151/8 in 20 overs (Grace Harris 40, Ellyse Perry 32, Renuka Thakur 2-24, Deepti Sharma 2-28).
