The dream of winning the World Cup has been broken again as Team India lost to Australia in the semi-final match. The first semi-final match of the Women’s T20 World Cup took place today between India and Australia at the Newlands Stadium in South Africa, in which India lost by 5 runs. The Australian team reached the semifinals by winning all four of its games in Group 1, while the Indian team advanced by winning three of its four games in Group 2. The Indian team won against Pakistan, the West Indies, and Ireland but lost to England. But the sad news for Indian fans is that the journey of the Indian team ended in the semi-finals today.
Match Highlight
Australian captain Meg Lanning decided to bat first winning the toss. The Australian team scored a total of 172 runs in 20 overs. Australian opener Beth Mooney top-scored with 54 while skipper Meg Lanning scored 49. The bowling of the Indian women’s team was simple, Shikha Pandey took 2 wickets for 32 runs in 4 overs from India. The same Radha Yadav and Deepti Sharma got one wicket each.
India needed 173 runs in 20 overs for a ticket to the final, but the team had to face defeat by 5 runs. The Indian top batting order did not perform well; opener Shafali Verma scored 9 runs while her fellow opener Smriti Mandhana could score only 2 runs. Harmanpreet Kaur, the Indian team’s captain, scored the most runs (52). She scored 52 runs in 34 balls with the help of six fours and a six. The same Jemimah Rodrigues scored 43 runs in 24 balls with the help of six fours.
Squad
India Women Playing: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Yastika Bhatia, Sneh Rana, Shikha Pandey, Radha Yadav, Renuka Thakur Singh
Australia Women Playing: Alyssa Healy (wk), Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning (c), Ashleigh Gardner, Ellyse Perry, Tahlia McGrath, Grace Harris, Georgia Wareham, Jess Jonassen, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown