India faltered again in the knockouts, Australia reached the seventh consecutive T20 World Cup final
India again came under pressure in a knockout match as defending champions Australia stormed into their seventh consecutive ICC Women’s T20 World Cup final with a five-run win here on Thursday. Australia made a challenging 172 for four after winning the toss and electing to bat as India fielded poorly and dropped chances to take catches. India lost three wickets for 28 runs but came back in the match with a 41-ball 69-run partnership for the fourth wicket between captain Harmanpreet Kaur (52 runs, 34 balls) and Jemimah Rodrigues (43 runs, 24 balls). .
India needed 39 runs from the last 30 balls, which was not very difficult, with five wickets in hand. But the past story was repeated again and the team could manage only 167 runs for eight wickets in the allotted 20 overs. The Indian team had also lost the last World Cup final against five-time champions Australia and recently faced defeat in the final of the Commonwealth Games. After the defeat in the knockout match, India’s long wait for the world title got extended.
Rodrigues and Harmanpeet made sure that the boundaries kept coming after explosive batsman Shefali Verma and star batsman Smriti Mandhana were dismissed cheaply. Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur decided to play the knockout match despite suffering from high fever a day earlier, hitting Jeff Jonassen for a towering six over long-on. Rodrigues was aggressive from the start, hitting Ashley Gardner for consecutive fours off the first two deliveries. After ten overs, India’s score was 93 for three and the team looked to be heading towards victory.
But Rodrigues’ innings ended on a slower ball from Darcy Brown, who touched his ball and caught the wicketkeeper. Harmanpreet was looking in her best form and was hitting some brilliant strokes. He completed his half-century in the 15th over by hitting Georgia Wareham for consecutive fours. But his run out changed the course of the match. She reached the pavilion in an attempt to take the second run, when Alyssa Healy took the ball and ran her out.
India’s bowling performance was also disappointing, 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. 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.
