ICC World T20 2018: Four reasons why India lost to England in the semis
England beat India by eight wickets to win the second semi-finals of the 2018 ICC Women's World T20 and with that win, they booked a final date with their nemesis Australia.
India, on the other hand, had a great tournament as they topped the group that had New Zealand and Australia and qualified for the semis without losing a single match, something that wasn't expected from them at the start of the tournament.
In the semis against England, India surrendered to Heather Knight and co. as they were beaten with 17 balls to spare. With the wicket assisting the spinners, England outplayed India in all three departments.
Credit has to be given to almost all the England players as it was a complete team effort. First, the fielders backed up the good work done by the bowlers and in the chase, Natalie Sciver and Amy Jones took England home with some sensible batting.
However, there are a few areas in which India lacked. Let us take a look at four things that India did wrong in the semis.
#4 India's batting collapse
After choosing to bat first, India were off to a brisk start as opener Smriti Mandhana took on the England bowlers right from the word go as she hit five fours and one six before she was dismissed for a 23-ball 34 off the last ball of the field-restriction overs when she tried to hit Sophie Ecclestone but ended up checking her shot and offered the bowler an easy catch.
Her fellow opener Taniya Bhatia fell soon after and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur joined Jemimah Rodrigues in the middle. The duo put on 36 runs for the third wicket in just 31 balls and gave India a good platform to go for the kill on a wicket that was very difficult to bat on. That's when it all began as Jemimah was run out for 26 and a few balls later, Kirstie Gordon delivered the knockout blow as Veda Krishnamurthy and the big fish, Kaur in a space of five balls. From 89/3, India were reduced to 94/5 and soon, it became 112 all-out.
Some of the wickets, including the one of experienced Kaur, was just baffling. On a wicket where 130 seemed to be a par total, India tried to look beyond it and threw away their wickets which ended in a collapse. Had they been sensible and just rotated the strike with an odd boundary every now and then, things could have been different.