In front of an enthusiastic crowd at Lord's, the seasoned pair of Ellyse Perry and Ash Gardner expertly handled a tight Australia chase of 171, the highest in women's T20 World Cups, and eliminated India from the competition. Except for a few fielding errors that kept India in check for almost 18 overs of their innings, Australia dominated much of the match. However, a Harmanpreet Kaur blitz gave them 170, the highest score against Australia at the women's T20 World Cup.
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| Harmanpreet Kaur reached fifty off 25 balls |
With calm hands from Phoebe Litchfield and Beth Mooney, Australia barely faltered through the chase, but they required a challenging 62 runs from the final six. The partisan Indian crowd was calmed when Perry and Gardner chased the Indian spinners with their half-centuries, found gaps frequently, and occasionally cleared the ropes. Before Georgia Wareham scored the winning runs, Perry and Gardner took 17 runs off Renuka Singh to reduce the score to 17 off 18 when they needed 34 off 24.
After losing their most recent league match to Australia, India failed to advance to the knockout stages of the T20 World Cup for the second consecutive year. Australia and South Africa advance from Group A to play West Indies and England, respectively, in the semi-finals on Tuesday and Thursday at The Oval, following India's defeat.
Mandhana and Shafali give India a cautious fifty-stand
Throughout the powerplay, Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana mainly maintained their composure. Shafali pursued the offside boundary, especially against Gardner, with a four and a six in the fourth over. Mandhana cruised at a run-a-ball by peppering the legside boundary with four fours anytime she got one on the pads. Australia was only unable to grab a wicket in the powerplay of a Twenty20 International for the second time since the 2023 T20 World Cup semi-final between the same two teams because they scarcely took any chances.
In the ninth over, Shafali faced Gardner once more. After scoring 13 runs in the first over, she scored 12 more, including a six and a four. Captain Sophie Molineux decided to strike the first blow by toppling Shafali's off stump as he began to cut loose. Jemimah Rodrigues opened the game with a spectacular inside-out boundary over the covers, but India suffered another setback due to her confusion with Mandhana. The opener was returned for 38 off 37 because Rodrigues was ball-watching following her reverse sweep and failed to react to Mandhana's call.
Against Australia, Harmanpreet accomplishes it once more
When Harmanpreet and the sun emerged, the scoring rate was a little above seven. She frequently attacked with both power and placement to increase the run rate, in contrast to the hitters who came before her. However, India was never able to overtake the scoring rate due to Australia's harsh lengths and somewhat slow ground. Since Shafali's dismissal, India had only managed one boundary per over. Following Molineux's seven-run, boundary-less 18th over, they were 134 for 2, with the third-wicket stand surpassing fifty. At that point, with considerable drama, Harmanpreet let out the Harmonster.
Rodrigues took two lives in as many balls shortly after Harmanpreet struck her sixth four in 22 balls. Before Nicola Carey made a more difficult attempt by diving forward from long off, her draw to deep square leg went through Georgia Wareham's hands for six. In an attempt to score more runs, India chose to withdraw Rodrigues in favour of big-hitting Richa Ghosh. However, Ghosh did nothing but watch as Harmanpreet hit three consecutive sixes in the final over, helped along by another Australian fielding error. Her 25-ball half-century, which she reached with two consecutive sixes, was the fastest by an Indian at the women's T20 World Cup. Perry eventually caught Harmanpreet at mid-off for 56 off 27 after the ball passed through Litchfield's hands over her head when she attempted a third consecutive hit. Once thought to be unachievable for India, Deepti Sharma's top edge off the final ball made it a 23-run over and a total of 170, which was the most against Australia at the women's T20 World Cup.
Australia and India trade blows
With the aid of a review that reversed the on-field ruling, Renuka struck the following ball to trap Georgia Voll lbw if she had begun the pursuit with a boundary. Renuka and Shafali each gave up a single in the following two overs to put the pressure back on Australia if Litchfield finished the second over with consecutive fours off Kranti Gaud. After Mooney hit two leg-side boundaries off Renuka to end the run of 13 boundary-less balls, Litchfield hit a straight six in a 12-run Shafali over to give Australia 49 in the powerplay.
After the Indian spinners' strike, Perry and Gardner led the chase
From there, it was anybody's game. After Litchfield returned to the starting lineup after missing three games due to injury, Shree Charani, India's top wicket-taker at the tournament, took the big wicket of Litchfield, shanking the ball to Mandhana at long-off for 24. Three overs later, Mooney skied one off Deepti, giving India an advantage. While Gardner frequently used the aerial method, Perry showed her class under duress by finding the gaps on either side of the pitch with 99 to get off the final 10 overs.
When Australia required 86 from 48, the game was beginning to go in India's favour. However, Gardner hit a four and a six off consecutive deliveries as Radha made a length error, and Perry followed it with a four to make it a 17-run over. Australia now required 46 from 30 after Gardner slog-swept Shree Charani for six in two overs; Perry followed with another four and the 16-run over.
Despite India's ability to cling to their catches in this game, the pressure began to emerge amid occasional misfields and multiple bowling changes. Now that the boundaries were flowing more easily, Perry scored a strong half-century off 33 balls with a straight boundary, and Gardner followed in the 18th over with hers off 28 balls to further establish their dominance. Before Wareham completed the game, Perry skied one to mid-off on the penultimate over to fall for 56.
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