Remarkable journey of Indian women’s team in World Cup 2017
The Indian Women’s team went down agonizingly of winning the
Women’s World Cup 2017, but under pressure could not hold their nerves against
the hosts at iconic Lords Cricket Ground on 23rd July.
England captain Heather Knight won the toss and decided to
bat first. Tammy Beaumont and Laura Winfield started off to a positive note
with attacking stroke play. Both England batters played with intent looking in
decent touch. Rajeshwari Gayakwad provided the breakthrough for Indian eves as
she dismissed Winfield around the legs. The England openers added 47 runs.
The leg spinner Poonam Yadav struck twice getting the
wickets of Beaumont with a full toss and then England captain Heather Knight
with a review to put the hosts under pressure at 63 for 3.
The experienced duo of Sarah Taylor and Nat Sciver rescued the
England innings with rotating the strike and hitting boundaries to put pressure
on the Indian bowlers. Sciver was superb against Indian spinners. She reached
her fifty off 65 balls. The veteran Jhulan Goswami got the much-needed
breakthrough getting rid of Sarah Taylor. Taylor and Sciver added 83 runs for
the 4th wicket.
She struck again off the very next ball to dismiss
Fran Wilson off her first ball to put hosts under pressure.
Katherine Brunt 34 off 42, Jenny Gunn and Laura Marsh unbeaten partnership helped England post 228 for 7 in 50 overs.
Chasing 229 runs to win, it was a disappointing start for
the Indian eves as Smriti Mandhana was cheaply by Annya Shurbsole. After the
fall of Mithali Raj’s wicket, Harmanpreet Kaur and Punam Raut steadied the
innings with rotating the strike and hitting boundaries.
Kaur was explosive the spinners and kept on rotating the
strike. On the other hand, Raut remained solid enough to reach her fifty off 75
balls. The explosive Harmanpreet Kaur also completed her milestone of 78
balls.
Harmanpreet Kaur tried to hit a big shot and was caught by
Beaumont. Kaur and Raut added 95 runs for the 3rd wicket. Veda
Krishna Murthy came to the crease and showed her class with positive stroke
play. Shurbsole got the big wicket of Raut to end a 53-run stand for the 4th
wicket.
The Indian middle and lower order could not handle the pressure.
Sushma Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey lost wickets. Veda
Krishna Murthy was well set but played a rash stroke.
With 10 runs required, Rajeshwari Gayakwad was bowled by
Shurbsole as Indian team from 191 for 3, lost their last 7 wickets quickly to
give England a thrilling 9 run win.
England women 228 for 7 in 50 overs (Sciver 51, Sarah Taylor
45, Jhulan Goswami 3/23) beat Indian women 219 in 48.4 overs ( Punam Raut 86,
Kaur 51, Shurbsole 6/46) by 9 runs.
The journey of Indian Team in Women’s World Cup 2017
It was an amazing journey for the Indian women’s team in
World Cup 2017. Before coming into the tournament, Mithali Raj side was not
given a chance to qualify.
In the very first match of the tournament, Indian team stunned
England by 35 runs thanks to a brilliant batting show by Smriti Mandhana,
Mithali Raj and Raut.
Indian team performance continued as they defeated West
Indies, arch-rivals Pakistan, Sri Lanka to win 4 successive matches. They were
handed two successive defeats against South Africa and then Australia.
In the virtual quarterfinals against New Zealand, India
outplayed them and won the match by a massive 186 runs margin.
They finished 3rd in the points table with 10
points and had a semi-final clash the mighty Australian team. Thanks to a
sensational 171* off 115 balls by Harmanpreet Kaur, Indian eves defeated them by
36 runs to make into their 2nd finals of Women’s World Cup history.
As far of Indian batters are concerned, Mithali Raj finished
as the 2nd leading run-getter in the tournament with 409 runs from 9
matches ( 9 innings) with 1 century and 3 half-centuries. Her best score in the
tournament was 109 against White Ferns.
Indian opener Punam Raut performed brilliantly as she made
381 runs from 9 matches (9 innings) with 1 century and 2 half-centuries. Her
best score in the tournament was 106 against Australia in the league game.
Harmanpreet Kaur showed her class with the bat scoring 359
runs from 9 matches ( 8 innings) with 1 century and 2 half-centuries. She
registered the best score of 171* in the semi-finals against Australia.
Among the Indian bowlers, off-spinner Deepti Sharma took 12
wickets from 9 matches (9 innings) at an economy of 4.70 runs per over. Her
best figures in the tournament were 3 for 47. The leg spinner Poonam Yadav
played a key role with leg-spinners with 11 wickets from 9 matches ( 9 innings)
at an economy of 3.86 runs per over. Both Indian spinners finished 4th
and 5th in terms of leading wicket-takers in the tournament.
The veteran Jhulan Goswami also did a decent job by picking
10 wickets from 9 matches ( 9 innings) at an economy of 4.14 runs per over. Her
best figures in the tournament were 3 for 23.
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| This Day That Year: Indian women's lost the 2017 WWC finals by 9 runs |
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