Yet another International Cricket Council (ICC) event, yet another disappointing finish, such was India’s day when they took on Australia for the 31st time in Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) and the first in the Semi-Final of the ongoing, 8th edition of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
The Semi-Final clash between the two sides saw, Australia batting first have a good start as openers, Alyssa Healy (25) and Beth Mooney shared a 52-run opening wicket stand. Meg Lanning then stitched a partnership alongside Beth, and with 88 on board, the latter departed for 54(37).
While Meg Lanning anchored, Ashleigh Gardner chipped in with an 18-ball 31, and Grace Harris’ brief stay on 7(4) saw curtains. A late surge from Meg saw her finish on 49(34) and Australian on 172/4. India, with the ball, had Shikha Pandey bag a couple at an economy rate of 8, and Deepti Sharma and Radha Yadav strike a wicket each.
India in reply had a poor start as Shafali Verma (9), Smriti Mandhana (2), and Yastika Bhatia (4), departed inside 4 overs with 28 on board. The pair of Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur launched a counterattack with a powering 69-run stand. With 97 on board, inside 11 overs, Jemimah on 43(24) departed, and over later, in the 15th, Harmanpreet Kaur on 52(34) was run-out in a manner one would believe.
How good was that knock by Jemimah Rodrigues? 🥺
43 in 24 balls #CricketTwitter #T20WorldCup 📸Disney+Hotstar pic.twitter.com/TZM6ZKcP5V
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) February 23, 2023
Richa Ghosh’s 14(17), Sneh Rana’s 11(10), and Deepti Sharma’s 20(17) went in vain as India finished on 167/8 falling 5 short of the required. Australia, with the ball, had Darcie Brown and Gardner, bag a couple of wickets each while Megan Schutt and Jess Jonassen bagged a wicket each.
Skipper, Harmanpreet Kaur’s run-out grabbed headlines after former English skipper, and in-demand commentator, Nasser Hussain, termed the run-out, a “schoolgirl error.” Harmanpreet’s bat got locked while she was trying to complete a second run and with her not able to touch the crease in time, she fell inches short as Alyssa Healy made no error in quickly dislodging the bails.
On Nasser’s comment, Harmanpreet Kaur, said, “He (Nasser) said that? (Raises her eyebrows). Post-match? Okay. I don’t know, that’s his way of thinking, but sometimes it happens. I have seen many times in cricket when batters are taking a single like that and the bat gets stuck there. Obviously, I will take it as we were unlucky today.
“I think it was unlucky, but I don’t think it was a mistake by a schoolgirl. We are mature enough, we are playing international cricket and whatever he said, that’s his way of thinking. I don’t think it was like that.”
Harmanpreet Kaur was teary-eyed after the narrow loss and the exit from T20 World Cup after playing that heroic knock. Former India Cricketer Anjum Chopra took some time to console Harmanpreet Kaur and shared the sorrows.
Watch Video here
🗨️”We were just trying to lessen our sorrows by sharing them”#CricketTwitter #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/RPoFwBd1X0
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) February 25, 2023