Australia defeated India by six wickets at Lord’s in London on Sunday, eliminating them from the Women’s T20 World Cup.
In their crucial Women’s T20 World Cup match at Lord’s on Sunday, India scored just under par 170 for four against Australia, but the rest of the lineup struggled to accelerate despite captain Harmanpreet Kaur’s fast 56 off 27 balls.
Since South Africa defeated Bangladesh by four wickets earlier to go up to second place behind the Australians with eight points, India had to win this game.
India got off to a strong start thanks to openers Smriti Mandhana (38) and Shafali Verma (34), who combined for 66 runs. However, safety seemed to be more important to them than scoring quickly because the run-rate never really rose over 7. Mandhana’s consecutive fours off bowler Kim Garth and Shafali’s two sixes off off-spinner Ashleigh Gardner were examples of sporadic outbursts of aggression.
India might have really picked up the pace after finishing the power play at a respectable 43 for no loss. Shafali recognized the need to shift gears, but her attempt to carve out Australian captain Sophie Molineux was a complete failure. The right-hander lost her off-stump and her balance.
Mandhana did not survive long either, as Georgia Wareham’s toss from deep reached bowler Lucy Hamilton with accuracy after she made a bad mistake with Jemimah Rodrigues (34, 28b), leaving her stranded in the middle of the pitch.
Rodrigues was unable to keep up the same pace for the remainder of her innings after starting with a four off Molineux. She was even dropped off pacer Annabel Sutherland in the deep on 27, which went for a six, and in the very next ball on 33. Despite facing only one ball, she was pulled out before the last over to allow big-hitting Richa Ghosh an opportunity.
However, Harmanpreet proved pretty proficient when she was there, taking advantage of Wareham’s and Molineux’s slower pace for a few short runs. The captain, who reached fifty in 26 balls, flayed her Australian adversary for three consecutive sixes in the penultimate over, yielding 23 runs.
