Indian women advanced to the semi-finals of the Women’s T20 World Cup. Harmanpreet Kaur’s side beat Ireland by five runs in the Duckworth-Lewis process in a rain-hit match on Monday. Even if Pakistan beat England on Tuesday, they will not be able to topple India. India and England, both teams now have six points. But England played one match less.
Pakistan will play against England in the last match of this group on Tuesday. If England loose that match by a huge margin, Indian Women has a chance to top the group. But that is practically impossible. As a result, India will have to play against Australia in the semi-finals. Harmanpreet’s team’s record against the country is not good at all.
Harman won the toss and elected to bat first against Ireland on Monday. India Women had a great start. Irish bowlers could not shake Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma. Two openers played 9 overs. Shafali was playing slow and keeping a side. Smriti on the other hand continues to play from the beginning. Shafali returned to the third ball of the tenth over.
Indian Women to face Australia next
Skipper Harmanpreet paired with Smriti. She also kept playing by herself giving Smriti an opportunity to play aggressively. Smriti was in her mood that day. No Irish bowler could stand up to her. At one time, it seemed that she would make the first century of her T20 career. But being extra aggressive, India’s vice-captain lost her wicket. Before that she made 87 off 56 balls with the help of 9 fours and 3 sixes.
Earlier, India women was under some pressure after losing Harman and Richa Ghosh in the same over. After that Smriti and Deepti Sharma returned again in the same over. Jemima Rodriguez scored 19 off 12 balls with the help of three fours. But in the end, the pace of the runs decreased.
Indian women started very well with the ball too. Ireland’s Amy Hunter was run out on the first ball. Jemima’s throw by Richa runs him out to take the second run. Orla Prendergast was sent back by Renuka Singh Thakur in that over. But the collapse was handled by Gabby Lewis and Laura Delaney. When they made a pair of 53 runs for the second wicket, it started raining. The game could not be restarted. Ireland needed more than 59 runs in 8.3 overs under the Duckworth-Lewis rule. But they lost because they were five runs short.
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