2017 Women's World Cup: Harmanpreet Kaur creates history
India beat Australia by 36 runs in the second semi-final of the 2017 ICC Women's World Cup and set up a clash against hosts England in the final. The match was well set-up by Harmanpreet Kaur's record-breaking 171* off just 115 balls with the help of 20 fours and seven sixes.
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Batting first, India lost the wickets of openers Smriti Mandhana and Punam Raut early before skipper Mithali Raj and her deputy Harman steadied the ship by putting on a 66-run partnership for the third wicket. Mithali got out for 36 and it was when Harman stepped on the accelerator.
After scoring her first fifty in 64 balls, she scored the remaining 121 runs off just 43 balls and took India to a defendable total of 281/4 in 42 overs.
Chasing 282 was never easy for the Aussies in a knockout match and adding to that, they had only 42 overs to do so. They were off to a disastrous start with the bat as Indian pacers Shikha Pandey and Jhulan Goswami removed Beth Mooney and skipper Meg Lanning early.
Also read: Jhulan Goswami's magic delivery to dismiss Meg Lanning
Elyse Villani and Ellyse Perry tried to pull things back but, their efforts went in vain as the Southern Stars were staring at a huge defeat. Alex Blackwell's 90 off 56 balls threatened to take the game away from India, but it was too little too late for the Aussies as they were bundled out for 245 in 40.1 overs.
Deepthi Sharma was the pick of the Indian bowlers as she picked three wickets while Shikha Pandey and Jhulan Goswami settled for two apiece.
Let us take a look at some of the records that shattered in the game last night.
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1- Mithali Raj becomes the first Indian (both men and women) to lead the team to two ODI World Cup finals.
1- India Women are now the first team to defeat the top three sides (Aus, Eng and NZ) in a single edition of Women's World Cup.
1- Deepthi Sharma becomes the first under-20 player to score 200 runs and take 10 wickets in a single edition of ODI World Cup (Men/Women).
1- Harmanpreet Kaur's 171 is the highest score by any batter in a women's World Cup knockout match, highest by an Indian woman against Australia and the highest by any Indian (both men and women) in a World Cup knockout match.
1- Harmanpreet Kaur is the first Indian player (Men's and Women's) to score 150+ in an ODI knockout.
2- Harmanpreet Kaur's 171 is the second highest score by a batter against Australia in women's ODI.
32- Number of wickets Jhulan Goswami has taken in World Cups, the most by any Indian bowler overtaking Diana Edulji's 31 wickets.
36- Runs scored by Smriti Mandhana in her last six matches. In the first two, she scored 196 runs.
Also read: 2017 ICC Women's World Cup: Rating the Indian cricketers
76- The partnership between Alex Blackwell and Kristen Beams for the tenth wicket, the highest tenth wicket stand in women's ODIs.
171- Harmanpreet Kaur scored 171 against Australia, the highest by a player who is not an opener in an ODI (both men and women) knockout match.
281- India's score after 42 overs against Australia, the second highest total in a Women's ODI knockout match. The previous best was 282/4 by Australia against England in a 50-over match.
404- Ellyse Perry has scored 404 runs in the tournament so far, the highest by any player. Mithali Raj is the second highest with 392 runs.