Australia Narrowly Ousts India
The final group stage matchup for Australia against India was always expected to be their toughest task before the knockout rounds.
The Indian side is experienced and talented meaning Australia would have to bring their best to come away with a win.
The match itself played out exactly how cricket fans would have wished with it looking as though either team was able to win until the very end.
The Aussies won the toss and elected to bat first but didn’t come out flying as India’s bowlers kept them in check.
Grace Harris and Beth Mooney opened up the batting for the Aussies and in the first over they went 7/0.
In the second over they worked their way to 17 but dropped a pair of quick wickets with Beth Mooney being caught out with just two runs and Georgia Wareham being given out with zero.
The Australia batting duo of Grace Harris and Tahlia McGrath would get the Aussies back on track as through the next nine overs they slowly tacked on runs until they hit 79.
It was at that point when India finally found another wicket with their keeper Ghosh making a stumping on McGrath.
Not long after, India would find their fourth wicket as Harris was caught out with 40 runs to her name. India used this momentum to grab another quick wicket just two overs later as Australia sat at 101-5.
Elyse Perry and Phoebe Litchfield then worked the score to 134 before perry sent a deep ball right to a fielder to leave the Aussies at 134-6.
With less than two overs to go, the bottom of the Australian order was able to tack on 17 more runs to end on 151-8.
Chasing 152, India had their work cut out for them. Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana opened for India and produced a solid start, jumping to 25-0 in just three overs.
The Australians would then find their first wicket as Verma’s shot was caught by Annabel Sutherland at long-on.
India would then push to 39 runs before the next wicket was taken by the Aussies courtesy of a review that determined Mandhana to be out leaving India at 39-2.
Australia didn’t waste much time finding their third wicket leaving India at 47-3 after a great catch by Ash Gardner.
After the tenth over at drinks, Australia seemed to be in the driver’s seat with India sitting on 67-3.
Harmanpreet Kaur did her best to will her team to victory but her supporting cast wasn’t giving her enough help.
The Indian captain battled her way to 54 not out but it just wasn’t enough.
After sitting at 110-3 in the 15th over, India would lose six wickets in the remaining overs and were unable to find enough runs to win as they eventually fell at 142-9.
India Bows out of the Tournament
With the loss, India no longer controlled their own destiny in terms of progressing to the knockout stage of the tournament.
They had to sit back and watch Pakistan play New Zealand as the result would determine their fate.
New Zealand would handle Pakistan with ease and as such, India is seen out of the competition in the group stage.
It’s a massively disappointing result for the Indian women who now must go back to the drawing board and look for improvement before the next World Cup.
Australia’s women’s cricket team is through to the semi-finals of the ICC T20 World Cup with an undefeated record. India was the team that stood between them and a 4-0 group stage and they were able to narrowly oust their opponents, winning by nine runs in the end.
