ICC Women’s World Cup 2022 Match 18: Indian women’s team lose in a thriller
The Indian women’s team went down fighting as they lost to the Australian team in a high-scoring thriller played at Eden Park, Auckland on Saturday.
Australian captain Meg Lanning won the toss and decided to
field first. The decision paid off as Darice Brown got rid of Smriti Mandhana
with a lovely catch by Meg Lanning at second slips. Shafali Verma coming as a
replacement for Deepti Sharma looked in decent touch before Beth Mooney's brilliance
ended her innings to leave the Indian team struggling.
At the end of the first 10 overs, the Indian women's team scored
37 for 2. After the field restrictions, Bhatia and Mithali Raj kept the scoreboard
ticking. Ellyse Perry struggled with her rhythm in the first over conceding 16
runs to give the Indian team momentum. Mithali Raj looking out of touch played with
intent keeping the scoreboard ticking along with Yastika Bhatia. Both Indian
batters made life tough for the Australian bowlers hitting boundaries and
rotating the strike. It was an amazing batting display by Bhatia and Raj taking
on the Australian spinners struggling for rhythm. Bhatia completed her fifty
off 77 balls while Raj too reached her fifty off 77 balls to maintain the
momentum for the Indian team.
Darice Brown struck for Australia dismissing well-set Bhatia
caught by Ellyse Perry at deep midwicket. Bhatia and Raj added 130 runs for the
3rd wicket laying a strong foundation. Harmanpreet Kaur looked in
great touch hitting boundaries while making life tough for the Australian
bowlers.
Alana King dismissed Mithali Raj trying to clear the
boundary but was caught by Perry. Richa Ghosh did not look at ease while
Harmanpreet Kaur showed intent keeping the scoreboard ticking with brilliant
shots. King produced the magic dismissing Richa Ghosh stumped. In the next
over, Sneha Rana was bowled by Jess Jonassen to leave the Indian team on the
backfoot.
The Australian fielding was not up to the mark as Beth
Mooney dropped Kaur. Pooja Vastakar struggled initially but then timed the ball
well taking on Alana King with her power-hitting. On the other hand, Kaur
completed her fifty off 42 balls to give momentum to the innings. Pooja Vastrkar
and Kaur kept the pressure on the Australian bowling line-up. Kaur was
eventually dismissed off the last ball. Kaur and Vastakar added 64 runs for the
7th wicket. Thanks to a brilliant batting display, the Indian team posted
277 for 7 in 50 overs.
In reply, the Australian openers Alyssa Healy provided a
flying start putting the bad deliveries away for boundaries against Jhulan
Goswami and Meghana Singh. Haynes also joined in hitting boundaries at will to
keep the Australian chase on course. At the end of the first 10 overs,
Australian women raced away to 67 for 0.
After the field restrictions, Haynes and Healy continued to
put pressure on the Indian bowling. Healy who did not look in the great form
completed her fifty off 49 balls. Jhulan Goswami went off the field due to an
injury.
The Australian openers put enough pressure on the Indian
bowlers. Sneha Rana eventually struck for India getting the wicket of Healy
caught by Mithali Raj at short-third man. Healy and Haynes added 121 runs for the opening stand. Pooja Vastakar scalped the wicket of Haynes with a bouncer
caught by Ghosh bringing back the Indian team into the game.
Australian captain Meg Lanning came to the crease and looked
in great touch as the Indian bowlers did not keep the pressure. Ellyse Perry took
some to settle before hitting lovely strokes along with Lanning.
Lanning looked in sublime touch reaching her fifty off 56
balls while Ellyse Perry looked comfortable. With the scoreboard reading 225
for 2, the rain arrived. After a short rain break, Vastakar struck getting rid
of Ellyse Perry with a full toss delivery caught by Raj. Perry and Lanning
added 103 runs for the 3rd wicket.
Beth Mooney showed her intent in keeping the scoreboard
ticking. Meg Lanning also kept her cool and hit the bad deliveries away for
boundaries. Meghana Singh got rid of Australian captain Lanning with a lovely
diving catch by Vastrkar at backward point. Mooney and Lanning added 44 runs
for the 4th wicket.
The match went down the last over with 8 runs required. Beth
Mooney did the job and helped the Australian team chase down the target easily.
Australian women 280 for 4 in 49.3 overs ( Lanning 97, Alyssa
Healy 72, Haynes 43, Pooja Vastrkar 2/43) beat Indian women 277 for 7 in 50
overs ( Raj 68, Yastika Bhatia 59, Kaur 57*, Darcie Brown 3/30) by 6 wickets.
With this win, Australian women became the first team to qualify
for the semi-finals of the Women’s World Cup 2022. On other hand, the Indian team will
face Bangladesh on 22nd March and then South Africa on 27th
March, they need to win both matches.
For her 97 off 107 balls, Meg Lanning was named the player
of the match.
Indian women's team lose to Australia in a high scoring thriller at Auckland
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