[Watch] Radha Yadav gets the wicket of Alyssa Healy in Women's T20 World Cup semi-final
Indian spin bowler Radha Yadav dismissed Australia opener Alyssa Healy in the first semi-final match of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023 at Newlands in Cape Town on Thursday, February 23.
Australia won the toss and opted to bat first on a fresh and healthy pitch at the picturesque Newlands. Openers Healy and Beth Mooney were right on the money.
Healy, who returned to the Australian side after recovering from a quad injury, started the match by opening the face of her bat for a boundary off Renuka Singh Thakur. She charged down to smash another boundary over mid-on.
Healy went a little longer down the feet to find the fence between mid-off and extra cover. This time, Deepti Sharma was the bowler.
Mooney, on the other hand, was evenly contributing with her exquisite timing and sharp-witted footwork to take on different bowlers. The southpaw smashed Deepti wide of long-off for the first maximum of the Australian innings.
The openers completed their fifty-run partnership just after the powerplay overs but could not extend it to a major milestone as Harmanpreet Kaur introduced her left-arm spinner into the attack.
Radha bowled it full and wide of the off stump, with the ball skidding low and beating Healy, who had already charged down the crease by then.
Richa Ghosh was quick behind the wickets to inflict stumpings and send the dangerous Australian opener back to the dressing room in the marquee clash.
Beth Mooney hits fifty after Alyssa Healy departure
Mooney continued her onslaught against the Indian bowlers, finding gaps and banking on misfielding opportunities. Shafali Verma dropped the opener at long-on while the latter was batting on 32.
Mooney hammered Shikha Pandey for successive boundaries in the 12th over to complete her 17th fifty in the T20 Internationals, her eighth against India.
Mooney did not stay longer at the crease after her celebrations, as Shafali caught her at backward point off Pandey.
Some handy cameos by skipper Meg Lanning (49*) and Ashleigh Gardner (31) propelled Australia to 172/4 in the first innings.