Kaur’s knock in vain as Australia beat India to book spot in semis

Defending champions Australia defeated India by nine runs in a topsy-turvy match to reach the Women’s T20 World Cup semi-final at the jam-packed Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

It was a house-full crowd as any Indian team played at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium after a long gap of 24 years.

Despite a valiant fightback by the skipper, Harmanpreet Kaur, India could manage to muster 142/9 in their chase of 151. Kaur scored an unbeaten 54 off 47 balls but failed to take her team past the target.

India, who are tied on points with New Zealand, will have to keep their fingers crossed and pray for Pakistan to win against the Kiwis to advance to the semi-finals of the showpiece event. The top two teams from each group will make it to the last four.

After restricting Australia to 151/8, India began the chase on a positive note as both the openers Shefali Verma and Smriti Mandhana shared a 26-run partnership for the first wicket to give a blazing start.

Shefali seemed to have picked up whence she left against Sri Lanka. She was connecting the ball well and hit two boundaries and a six in her blitzkrieg 13-ball 20 as India raced to 26 for no loss.

Mandhana failed to reproduce the magic and started rather slowly. She was trapped by Molineux as India lost the first wicket on 26. After that, they lost two more wickets in quick succession as Gardener sent back Shefali and Schut got rid of Jemimah Rodrigues. India were in deep trouble and they needed a big partnership to remain in the hunt. Harmanpreet and Deepti Sharma took the charge in their hands and started rebuilding the innings.

They played watchfully and shared a 64-run stand for the fourth wicket to keep the chase alive. They kept the scoreboard ticking with singles and doubles. When the asking run rate spiralled, both the batters started cutting loose to keep it under control. They brought the equation down to 41 needed off the last four overs.

Molineux broke the partnership to rekindle Australia’s hopes. She had Deepti caught by Wareham on the boundary ropes. After the dismissal of Deepti, the match again seemed to have been tilted in Australia’s favour. But Kaur kept the fight on as she added 28 runs for the sixth wicket with Pooja Vastrakar to keep India’s hopes alive.

Sutherland uprooted the stumps of Pooja and pushed India on the backfoot again. The dismissal of Pooja showed the chink in India’s batting line-up.

India lost four wickets within the space of two runs as they finished on 142/9.

Earlier, Renuka Singh gave India a perfect start as she pushed Australia on the backfoot with two wickets in quick succession. But they failed to capitalise on the start.

Renuka had opener Beth Mooney caught by Yadav to give India their first breakthrough after the Australian openers had added 17 runs for the wickets.

Renuka also sent back Georgia Wareham on the next ball to make it two in two deliveries. After losing two wickets in two balls, Australia came under pressure.

They needed a big partnership to anchor the faltering innings. Grace Harris and Tahlia McGrath knuckled down to put the faltering innings back on track. Both the batters played sensibly as they kept the scoreboard ticking with singles and doubles and also kept on hitting the occasional boundaries. They added 62 runs for the third wicket to keep Indian bowlers at bay and bring Australia back in the game.

McGrath was the more brutal of the two. They had their roles cut out. Harris was playing a watchful innings while McGrath took her chances.

With both the batters playing fearlessly and cruising along nicely, the pressure was back on India. Australia looked set to score 160 plus.

India needed a breakthrough desperately if they wanted to remain in the game. Radha provided India that breakthrough by breaking the dangerous looking partnership. She flighted the ball in the air to invite McGrath to hit her over the top. McGrath came down the track but failed to connect to the ball and wicket-keeper Ghosh showed the agility of an athlete to take the bails off. McGrath hit four boundaries in her 26-ball 32.

Mohammad Abdullah

Brief scores:

Australia 151-8 in 20 overs (Grace Harris 40, Tahlia McGrath 32; Ellyse Perry 32; Renuka Singh 2-24, Deepti Sharma 2-28) v India 142-9 in 20 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 54 not out, Deepti Sharma 29; Annabel Sutherland 2-22, Sophie Molineux 2-32).

Scotland 109-6 in 20 overs (Kathryn Bryce 33, Sarah Bryce 27; Sophie Ecclestone 2-13) v England 113-0 in 10 overs (Maia Bouchier 62 not out, Danni Wyatt-Hodge 51 not out)