Harmanpreet’s fifty goes in vain as Australia triumph over India with 9-run victory

Captain Harmanpreet Kaur struck an unbeaten 54 but India’s nine-run loss to six-time champions Australia took her side’s fate for a semifinal spot out of their hands in the women’s T20 World Cup here on Sunday.

With Australia marching into the semifinals undefeated, the defeat meant India will now have to wait for the outcome of third-placed New Zealand’s match against Pakistan on Monday.

A win for New Zealand will see them leapfrog India and finish at the second spot. India may currently have a better Net Run Rate but have the same points (4).

Renuka Singh Thakur (2/24) and Deepti Sharma (2/28) played pivotal roles in the bowling department, but Australia posted 151 for 8 after opting to bat.

While Renuka struck twice early on, Deepti grabbed the crucial wickets of Grace Harris (40) and Ellyse Perry (32) in later stages.

However, contributions from Harris, Perry, stand-in skipper Tahlia Mcgrath (32) and an important knock of 15 runs from 9 deliveries by Phoebe Litchfield guided Australia over the 150-run mark.

Shafali Verma gave India a solid start, however wasn’t able to convert her inning into a big one and departed after scoring 20 runs off 13 deliveries. Smriti Mandhana on the other hand, played a disappointing knock of 6 runs off 12 balls before getting dismissed.

India was bolstered by Harmanpreet’s fifty (54*) and her 63-run stand for the fourth wicket with Deepti Sharma (29), but they crumbled under pressure to be restricted to 142/9 in 20 overs.

With 28 needed off the last 2 overs, India took 14 off the penultimate over. Needing 14 runs from the last over, they lost as many as 4 wickets to concede the game to Australia, as Harmanpreet was stranded on the other end.

India paid the price for sloppy fielding and also leaving it too late in run chase. Only 2 fours were hit between 7.4 and the end of 14th over as Harmanpreet hit her first boundary on her 15th ball. The Women in Blue only have themselves to blame for this defeat.

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