India’s 9-run loss to Australia put them in a difficult position to qualify for semifinals
Sharjah, Oct 13: India lost to defending champions Australia by nine runs in their last group match to find themselves in a difficult position to qualify for the semifinals of the women’s T20 World Cup, here on Sunday.
Chasing 152 for a win, India ended at 142 for 9 with captain Harmanpreet Kaur top-scoring with 54 not out off 47 balls. Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma chipped in with 29 and 20 respectively.
India ended their Group A campaign on four points after two wins and two losses.
Australia, who topped the group with all four wins, qualified for the semifinals while New Zealand (4 points) need a win against Pakistan on Monday to make it to the last-four stage.
Opting to bat, Australia were restricted to 151 for 8 with opener Grace Harris top-scoring with 40 off 41 balls. Stand-in captain Tahlia McGrath and Ellyse Perry chipped in with 32 each.For India, Renuka Singh and Deepti Sharma took two wickets apiece while Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav and Shreyanka Patil got one each.India were pegged back after a decent start with the bat as they attempt to chase 152 to beat Australia in a crunch match in Sharjah.
Shafali Verma got her team off to a flier with a flurry in the powerplay, although her promising knock of 20 (from 13 balls) came to an abrupt end when she was caught off Ash Gardner.
And fellow opener Smriti Mandhana also fell in the powerplay, trapped lbw by Sophie Molineux to end a patient contribution of 6 (12).India closed the powerplay with the score on 41/2, with Jemimah Rodrigues and captain Harmanpreet Kaur out in the middle.
But Rodrigues soon joined the openers back in the dugout, caught for 16 (12), and India needed a big second half of the innings with the score at 67/3 at drinks.Earlier, Renuka Singh (2/24) and Deepti Sharma (2/28) starred in a strong bowling showing from India, but the depth of Australia’s batting talent nevertheless steered them to an impressive 151/8 from their 20 overs.
Grace Harris, coming into the side in place of the injured captain Alyssa Healy, top-scored with 40 (41 balls), while there were valuable contributions through the lower middle order, with stand-in skipper Tahlia McGrath (32) and Ellyse Perry (32) the biggest contributors.Australia’s stand-in captain McGrath won the toss and decided to bat first against India at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.But it was India who enjoyed the better of the opening stages, as Renuka Singh struck twice in two balls to remove Beth Mooney (2) and Georgia Wareham (0) to leave Australia in need of a rebuild. (Agencies)