CWG 2022 Indian W versus Australia Finals: Indian team settle for silver
The Indian women’s Cricket Team produced a remarkable effort as they lost the finals in a thrilling encounter played at Edgbaston, Birmingham on Sunday.
Australian captain Meg Lanning won the toss and decided to
bat first. Renuka Singh produced the magic for India dismissing Alyssa Healy
via review for LBW. The umpire gave not out but on review, it was overturned to
out. Meg Lanning struggling with form showed intent against disciplined Indian
bowling while Beth Mooney looked in decent touch to keep the scoreboard going for
Australia. At the end of the first six overs, Australian women made 43 for 1.
After the field restrictions, Lanning and Mooney kept maintaining
the momentum with boundaries in each over. Radha Yadav produced a piece of
magic flicking back with Lanning short of the crease at the non-striker end. Lanning
and Mooney added 74 runs for the 2nd wicket.
Radha Yadav produced another piece of magic with a stunning
diving catch to dismiss Tahlia McGrath to leave Australia on the backfoot. Ash
Gardner looked in great touch putting pressure on the Indian bowlers with some
streaky boundaries and big hits. On other hand, Mooney looked composed
completing fifty off 36 balls. Sneha Rana broke the partnership by dismissing Gardner
with lovely stumping by Taniya Bhatia. Gardner and Mooney added 38 runs for the
4th wicket.
The Indian bowlers made a strong comeback with wickets at
regular intervals. Renuka Singh grabbed the important wicket of Grace Harris as
Meghna Singh took a good catch. A sensational one-handed catch by Deepti Sharma
resulted in the wicket of Mooney. Radha Yadav grabbed the wicket of Alana King
and Smriti Mandhana produced a superb direct hit to dismiss Jess Jonassen. Haynes
provided some important runs. Thanks to disciplined effort in death overs,
India restricted Australia to 161 for 8 in 20 overs.
Chasing 162 runs to win, Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma
started the innings well with 3 boundaries in the first over. Mandhana played a
rash stroke going across stumps being bowled. Shafali Verma was given a reprieve
as she was dropped by Schutt and then played another big shot, but this time Australian
team did not drop to leave India in trouble.
Harmanpreet Kaur looked in fine touch playing some lovely
shots while Jemimah Rodrigues took a few balls to settle. At the end of the first six
overs, Indian women scored 42 for 2.
Kaur and Rodrigues kept the momentum going for the Indian team.
They did not allow Tahlia McGrath with her lines. Both batters showed their class by not allowing Australian bowlers to settle. Kaur was simply outstanding coming
down the track against King and Jonassen. Rodrigues also looked impressive maintaining
pressure on Australian bowlers.
Kaur completed her fifty off 34 balls and looked on course
for a famous win. Schutt struck for Australia dismissing Rodrigues trying to
hit a boundary. Kaur and Rodrigues added 96 runs for the 3rd wicket.
Ash Gardner changed the course of the game dismissing Pooja Vastrkar and Kaur
off successive deliveries.
The match ebbed and flowed from one end to another. Sneha
Rana was run-out with a lovely throw by Brown from short fine leg and lovely gather
by Gardner. A superb direct hit by Grace Harris resulted in the run-out of
Radha Yadav.
Yastika Bhatia came as a concussion substitute. Deepti
Sharma fell also to Megan Schutt leaving India in trouble. With 11 runs needed
to win from the final over, Meghana Singh was run out while trying to take the second
run. Bhatia was dismissed by Jonassen to lose the match by 9 runs after being in
a strong position.
Australian women 161 for 8 in 20 overs (Beth Mooney 61,
Lanning 36, Renuka Singh 2/25, Sneha Rana 2/38) beat Indian women 152 in 19.3
overs ( Kaur 65, Rodrigues 33, Gardner 3/16, Schutt 2/27) by 9 runs.
The Indian team lost to Australia in the finals of the CWG cricket competition
Comments