ICC Women’s World Cup 2017, India vs Australia: 5 things that went wrong for the defending champions
The Indian eves avenged their group stage defeat with a thrilling victory over the defending champions, Australia, by 36 runs in the semi-final at Derby on Thursday. The match was reduced to 42 overs a side after rain delayed the start. Batting first, India rode on a whirlwind knock of 171* off 115 deliveries from Harmanpreet Kaur to post a total of 281/4 in their stipulated 42 overs of the innings.
Chasing the total, Australia got off to a shaky start, losing their top three batters in Beth Mooney (1), Nicole Bolton (14) and Meg Lanning (0) for just 21 runs. Ellyse Perry and Elyse Villani tried their best to get Australia back into the game with a 105 run partnership.
However, that came to an end with the dismissal of Villani after a superb knock of 75 runs off just 58 deliveries. Perry (38) followed soon after and the rest of the batters fell like a pack of cards as Australia were reduced to 169/9. However, Alex Blackwell’s blitzkrieg raised their hopes for a while.
She kept hammering the Indian bowlers as she made her way to 90 (56). However, Deepti Sharma struck the last nail in the coffin cleaning her up with a superb delivery. Australia thus lost the match by 35 runs as India progressed into the finals.
Let us now have a look at the five of those things that went wrong for Australia.
#1) Unable to stop the rampaging Harmanpreet Kaur
Australia were once again in the driver’s seat having reduced India to 101/3 inside 25 overs. Moreover, both of their in-form batters in Mithali Raj and Punam Raut were sent back to the pavilion.
However, they were hardly aware of what was about to start in a short while. Kaur changed gears after Raj departed and wreaked havoc.
She brought up her 50 in 64 deliveries with a boundary off Kristen Beams's bowling. She then brought up her century in 90 deliveries which meant she had scored her last 50 runs in just 26 deliveries.
And later, she went on to score 71 runs in the next 25 deliveries to push her individual total to a mammoth 171* off 115 deliveries. Moreover, she had also helped India’s total to an impressive 281/4. It was Kaur’s innings that made the difference between an Australia victory and defeat.
This knock will be remembered as one of the best knocks in World Cup history for a long long time.