3 big records broken in India's 9-run loss to Australia in 2024 Women's T20 World Cup
Dozens of familiar narratives repeated themselves as Australia notched a nine-run win over India in Sunday's (October 13) 2024 Women's T20 World Cup. Poor fielding, sub-par running between wickets, and batting struggles under pressure allowed a depleted Australian side to do the simple things right and maintain advantage.
This means there's a big chance it was India's last match in the tournament. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side's fate now depends on Pakistan beating New Zealand on Monday, October 14, by a margin small enough that it keeps their net run rate under India's. Australia, meanwhile, secured yet another semi-final qualification.
In the finer details of the context, we also saw three big records broken from both teams. Check them below:
#3 Harmanpreet Kaur's two big milestones
Ironically, before the tournament began, India's biggest concern was skipper Harmanpreet's batting form and her importance in a team full of young, 'attack-first' players. But in back-to-back pressure games against Sri Lanka and Australia, Harmanpreet stood tall with half-centuries.
Her decision to not retain strike in the final over against Australia was a bad one and she'd probably regret it for weeks. However, India would do well to acknowledge that the situation would have never come to that had the other batters not crumbled.
With her unbeaten 54 (47), Harmanpreet achieved two milestones. Firstly, she now has 3576 career runs in 157 innings - the most for India in the format - and eight more than vice-captain Smriti Mandhana (139 innings), who was the previous record holder.
Harmanpreet also became the highest run-scorer for India in Women's T20 World Cups with 726 runs, joint-top with her former captain Mithali Raj. However, Harmanpreet took 33 innings to reach the mark compared to Raj's 22.
#2 Tahlia McGrath breaks Meg Lanning's record
Most records for Australia in T20Is are dominated by former captain Meg Lanning, who retired from international cricket earlier this year but continues to dominate in domestic cricket. It speaks volumes about all-rounder Tahlia McGrath's ability that she broke a record held by Lanning.
With her 32 runs in 23 balls, which stabilized the Aussie innings after two big blows in the powerplay, McGrath went past 1,000 T20I runs. She achieved the milestone in just 37 innings, becoming the quickest Australian to it, beating Lanning by one inning.
She also became the joint second-best overall in the world, alongside England's Sarah Taylor. Legendary English great Charlotte Edwards is the only one ahead of them for she reached 1,000 runs in just 35 innings.
(Stat courtesy: Cricket.com)
#1 Renuka Singh goes top in crucial record
India's best performer from the match was fast bowler Renuka Singh Thakur, who yet again struck gold in the powerplay. She took out Beth Mooney and Georgia Wareham on consecutive balls in the third over of the first innings, though Wareham was given LBW erroneously and she didn't review.
This was the 11th time she took two or more wickets in powerplay in T20Is, now the new highest number in the world. She broke South African great Shabnim Ismail's record of 10 such occasions. England's Anya Shrubole (nine times) holds the bronze on the podium.
(Stat courtesy: Cricket.com)