India’s chances of advancing to the semifinals of the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 took a significant hit when the Harmanpreet Kaur-led team lost to Australia by 9 runs in a pivotal Group A match in Sharjah on Sunday. Despite Harmanpreet’s half-century, the Indian team was thoroughly outperformed, allowing Australia to secure a spot in the semifinals with 8 points from 4 matches. India, meanwhile, has 4 points from 4 games, with losses against both Australia and New Zealand, while New Zealand also has 4 points and Pakistan has 2.
However, there remains a path for India to qualify for the semifinals if Pakistan defeats New Zealand in the final Group A match on Monday. If Pakistan wins, they will join India and New Zealand with 4 points, but the Indian team would advance to the knockout stage due to a superior Net Run Rate (NRR).
In their last group match, India fell short in their chase of 152 runs, finishing at 142 for 9. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur was the standout performer with an unbeaten 54 runs off 47 balls, while Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma contributed 29 and 20 runs, respectively.
Australia, who batted first, managed 151 for 8, with opener Grace Harris scoring 40 runs off 41 balls. Stand-in captain Tahlia McGrath and Ellyse Perry added 32 runs each.
For India, Renuka Singh and Deepti Sharma claimed two wickets each, while Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, and Shreyanka Patil took one wicket each.