Women’s T20 World Cup: India in danger of early exit after losing thriller to Australia

Australia stormed into the semi-final of the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024. On Sunday.

The defending champions beat Harmanpreet Kaur’s India by nine runs at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. India do not have fate in their own hands. Harmanpreet’s women’s fate depends on the match between Pakistan and New Zealand on Monday.

Making it worse for them, their net run rate also dipped to 0.322. Despite not having their skipper, Alyssa Healy, who suffered a foot injury, the Aussies put their best foot forward and extended their winning run to 15 in the tournament. For India to go through, Pakistan, who have their skipper Fatima Sana back, need to take down the White Ferns.

Australia got off to a rough start after Beth Mooney and Georgia Wareham failed to go into double digits. Renuka Singh gave India the upper hand with the early wickets. From there on, Grace Harris, who replaced an injured Alyssa Healy in the XI, and Tahlia McGrath, their stand-in skipper, steadied the ship with a handy partnership of 62 runs for the second wicket.

Harris threw her bat around to score 40 off 41 with five fours, while McGrath made 32 off 26 balls. But Australia lost both their set batters as Deepti Sharma and Radha Yadav chipped in with the wickets. Radha was a last-minute replacement after Asha Sobhana sustained a knee injury after toss. McGrath had two lifelines after Harmanpreet Kaur dropped her twice, but she ran out of luck.

Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 Full Coverage

Ellyse Perry came out with intent, scoring 32 runs off 23 balls with two fours and a six. Phoebe Litchfield and Annabel Sutherland played handy cameos to help Australia post 151 for eight on the board. Litchfield hit a last-ball six to take Australia’s score past the 150-run mark. Deepti and Renuka picked up two wickets each while Shreyanka Patil, Pooja Vastrakar and Radha accounted for a scalp apiece.

Australia hold India back

Chasing a stiff target on a tricky surface, India did not get off to the best of starts. Shafali Verma made a promising start, scoring 20 runs off 13 balls before Ash Gardner removed her. Smriti Mandhana, who had returned to form with a half-century against Sri Lanka, was cleaned up by Sophie Molineux for six. Jemimah Rodrigues played her shots to make 16 off 12, after which Megan Schutt, the all-time top wicket-taker in Women’s T20Is, dismissed her.

In the 11th over of the Indian innings, Australia secured their berth in the semi-finals. For India, the onus was then on Deepti and Harmanpreet Kaur to bail India out. With seven overs left, the required run-rate touched 10 for the first time. Harmanpreet got a lifeline after Darcie Brown, who came in place of Tayla Vlaeminck, dropped her when the batter tried to go for a slog sweep.

Harmanpreet’s knock in vain

Megan Schutt gave only one run in the 17th over as India needed 40 runs off their last three overs. Harmanpreet, however, kept them in the game with a 44-ball fifty as the target came down to 15 off the last over. Australia had three options, Brown, Sutherland and Wareham to choose from.

Australia chose Sutherland and she did not let her team down. India lost four wickets in the last over to capitulate under pressure. Sutherland dismissed Pooja Vastrakar and Radha while Shreyanka and Arundhati Reddy got run out. India finished their innings at 142 for the loss of nine wickets.