3 teams that have disappointed at the Women's T20 World Cup
The ongoing ICC Women's T20 World Cup has reached its business end, with just knockout games left. The four teams that have made their way to the semi-finals of the marquee event are Australia, India, England, and hosts South Africa.
While most of the results were on the expected lines, there were still a few teams that had a horrific tournament, which reflected in the results.
Here, we look at three teams who had a poor run in the ICC Women's T20 World Cup and were eventually knocked out.
#1 New Zealand
New Zealand, under the leadership of all-rounder Sophie Devine, had a poor start to the tournament as they lost their first two games against world beaters Australia and hosts South Africa.
They were hammered in both games, losing by 97 and 65 runs, respectively. Against Australia, the Kiwis put up a horrible batting show, getting bowled out for a paltry 76. In their next game against the Proteas, they were knocked over for just 67 runs.
They did win their next two games against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, that too by huge margins, but by then, the damage had already been done. Huge defeats against Australia and South Africa dented their net run rate, which eventually came into the equation. A smaller margin of defeat would have seen them through to the semis at the expense of the hosts.
#2 Pakistan
Bismah Maroof and Co. once again had a disappointing campaign on the world stage as they lost three out of their four games. Their only win came against Ireland, who themselves had a horror run in the Rainbow Nation.
They started their T20 World Cup campaign on a promising note, losing an extremely tight encounter against neighbors India and then thrashing the Irish side by 70 runs. However, they lost their next two games against West Indies and England.
The game against West Indies was still a close one but against Heather Knight and Co., Pakistan were abysmal to say the least, as they went down by a mammoth 114 runs.
Fans would have expected better performances from the Women in Green after poor showings in the last few world tournaments. But this became yet another chapter of the same book.
#3 Ireland
Seeing Ireland on this list might come as a surprise to some fans, but after an impressive showing in the warm-up games, Laura Delany and Co. themselves would have expected more than they got in South Africa.
They beat the mighty Aussies in their first warm-up game, which took the entire cricketing landscape by surprise. They then gave Sri Lanka a run for their money, losing by only two runs.
But come the main tournament, they failed to lift their game. They lost all four of their games, becoming one of the two teams to remain winless in the ICC Women's T20 World Cup. Prior to the World Cup, the Irish did well in Pakistan as well, which must have raised their hopes but they were quite off-color.