Taking full advantage of India’s poor fielding, Australia posted a challenging 172 for four in the first semi-final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup here on Thursday. The Indian bowling was also disappointing, which also needed a lot of improvement, with Beth Mooney continuing her excellent record against India with a brilliant 37-ball 54. Ashley Gardner, one of the game’s best ‘power hitters’, scored 31 off 18 balls while captain Meg Lanning remained unbeaten on 49 off 34 balls.
Australia won the toss and elected to bat and Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur decided to play the knockout match despite suffering from high fever a day earlier. India’s star bowler Renuka Singh found it difficult due to lack of swing. Alyssa Healy (25 off 26 balls) usually shows a lot of aggression in the first innings partnership with Mooney but that was not the case on Thursday. Mooney continued to hit boundaries at regular intervals during the 52-run partnership. When Mooney was on 32, Shefali Verma dropped her catch at long on.
Deepti Sharma, India’s most consistent spinner in the tournament, bowled a lot of short deliveries in her opening spell. His second over saw 12 runs in which Mooney hit a massive six over wide long off. In addition to the inconsistent line and length of the bowlers, poor fielding and dropping catches, India squandered a lot of runs. Lanning took full advantage of the lifeline he got at the start of his innings, scoring an unbeaten 49 off 34 balls, including two sixes and a four off Renuka in the 20th over.
Renuka could not take any wicket and in four overs she looted 41 runs. Sneh Rana, playing in place of Pooja Vastrakar, could not pick up any wickets though she troubled the batsmen with her deliveries. In her first over, Lanning could have been out behind the wicket but wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh missed the chance. Richa also spoiled a stumping chance of Lanning. Australia added 59 runs in the last five overs.
