A valiant attempt by Indian eves at the first semi-final against the power-packed Australian team as Indians fell short by 5 runs at Cape Town today.
India always stayed ahead of the curve but eventually fell short of the biggest run chase in the history of women’s cricket at a World Cup.
Skipper Harmanpreet led the attack from the front as she along with Jemima Rodrigues put together a 69 runs-41 partnership and kept India in the hunt till the last few deliveries.
Earlier in the day, Australia won the toss and elected to bat first, scoring 172 runs in 20 overs, losing 4 wickets & setting India a target of 173 runs.
Beth Mooney was the star of the show for Australia, scoring the 17th T20 half-century of her career with 54 runs in 37 balls, including seven fours and one six. Australian captain Meg Lanning also put in a stellar performance, scoring an unbeaten 49 runs. For India, Shikha Pandey took a maximum of 2 wickets, while Deepti Sharma and Radha Yadav got 1-1 wickets.
Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney got Australia off to a flying start with an opening partnership of 52 runs, adding 43 runs during the power play. However, India soon gained the upper hand when Radha Yadav got Alyssa Healy stumped by wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh in the eighth over. Healy scored 25 runs in 26 balls, hitting three fours in her innings. Mooney was caught by Shefali Verma off the bowling of Shikha Pandey in the 12th over. Ashley Gardner then put on a stormy performance, scoring 31 runs in 18 balls with the help of five fours, before being clean-bowled by Deepti Sharma in the 18th over. Grace Harris was the last wicket to fall, clean-bowled by Shikha Pandey in the 19th over after scoring seven runs in four balls.
The Indian team’s poor fielding was on full display, as two catches were dropped in the ninth and tenth overs. In the ninth over, wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh failed to hold onto a catch from Meg Lanning off the ball of Sneh Rana. Then, in the tenth over, Shefali dropped an easy catch of Beth Mooney at the boundary line off Radha Yadav, as the ball clipped her hand and sailed over the boundary.
The writer is Womens Cricket Historian & Founder of Indian Sports Fan