India lost the won match
INDW vs AUSW, Women’s T20 World Cup 2023: The Indian team has suffered a 5-run defeat at the hands of Australia in the semi-finals of the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023. Indian women’s team lost this match after reaching the door of victory. After this defeat, the wound of Team India’s 2017 ODI World Cup defeat also became fresh. When Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh were at the crease, India looked to be cruising towards an easy victory. But unfortunately that run out of Harmanpreet Kaur changed all the mood and from there the match turned. After this Richa Ghosh was dismissed by Darcy Brown and put the pressure on India by giving just 1 run in the 16th over.
In this match, the Indian team made a poor start chasing a mammoth score of 173 runs. Smriti Mandhana, Shefali Verma and Yastika Bhatia returned to the pavilion in the powerplay. After this, Jemima Rodrigues made the Australian bowlers sweat by scoring 43 runs off 23 balls. Then Harmanpreet Kaur also kept the hopes alive by scoring 52 runs in 34 balls, but her bat getting stuck while taking that run in the 15th over and losing India’s 5th wicket was a huge turning point. The Indian team could only manage 167 runs for 8 wickets in the stipulated 20 overs and lost the match by five runs. This defeat reminded of the loss to England in 2017 where after the wicket of Poonam Rawat, 7 players were dismissed for 28 runs and the won ODI World Cup final was lost by Team India.
Taking full advantage of India’s poor fielding, Australia posted a challenging score of 172 for four. The Indian bowling was also disappointing as Beth Mooney continued her fine record against India with a brilliant 37-ball 54. Ashleigh Gardner scored 31 off 18 balls while skipper Meg Lanning remained unbeaten on 49 off 34 balls. In this match, Australia won the toss and decided to bat and Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur decided to play this knockout match despite high fever a day earlier. India’s star bowler Renuka Singh found it difficult due to lack of swing.
Bad fielding and bowling damage
Alyssa Healy (25 off 26 balls) usually shows a lot of aggression in the first innings partnership with Mooney but that was not the case here. Mooney continued to hit boundaries at regular intervals during the 52-run partnership. When Mooney was on 32, Shefali Verma dropped her catch at long on. Deepti Sharma, India’s most consistent spinner in the tournament, bowled a lot of short deliveries in her opening spell. His second over saw 12 runs in which Mooney hit a massive six over wide long off. In addition to the inconsistent line and length of the bowlers, poor fielding and dropping catches, India squandered a lot of runs. Taking full advantage of the lifeline, Lanning scored an unbeaten 49 off 34 balls and scored 18 runs in the 20th over with two sixes and a four off Renuka. Renuka could not take any wicket and in four overs she looted 41 runs. Sneh Rana, playing in place of Pooja Vastrakar, could not pick up any wickets though she troubled the batsmen with her deliveries. In her first over, Lanning could have been out behind the wicket but wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh missed the chance. Richa also spoiled a stumping chance of Lanning. Australia added 59 runs in the last five overs.