Edgbaston| It is often said that predictions shouldn't be passed till the time the last ball is bowled in a game of cricket which is filled with uncertainties and fortunes can change around pretty quickly. This seems to be the case with the Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian side, who lost a match after they almost had it in their kitty. Nobody can come up with any explanation for the debacle that the Indian team had. As of now, it feels that the Indian team tends to give up and loses the match mentally whenever they are to face Australia.
Surprisingly Australia defeated India in the final of the 2020 ICC T20I World Cup, they also knocked them out of the 2022 ICC ODI World Cup and now, they have inflicted yet another defeat on the Indian team. Following the traditional way, team Australia won the toss and decided to bat first. Meg Lanning said that she feels that the wicket was good and was also sure of putting a great performance worthy of the finals. As soon as Australia came out to bat, Renuka Singh dismissed the dangerous wicketkeeper-batsman Alyssa Healy. Healy has caused loads of trouble for India in the past and her wicket meant that the Indians has an upper hand in the game.
Beth Mooney kept on carrying from the other end as she scored 61 off 41 deliveries but fell prey to an absolute stunner of a catch taken by Deepti Sharma. Mooney's wicket applied brakes on Australia's batting, but the likes of Rachael Haynes and Ashleigh Gardner posed some serious threats with the bat. India was clinical with the ball and stopped the Australian scoring at 161 runs.
But things were to change pretty quickly when India came to bat. Openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana departed in quick succession which forced the skipper Harmanpreet Kaur to enter early. The in-form batsman Jemimah Rodrigues along with her skipper Harmanpreet Kaur stitched together a partnership of 96 runs which was slowly taking the game away from India, but it was Meg Lanning's tactical bowling change that started taking the steam away from India's chase. Rodriguez was dismissed by Meghan Schutt when India was batting at 118 and just before India could know or sense it, they were bundled out by the score of 152 runs.
India can be pretty proud of their performances and of winning the silverware at the CWG, but the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side has many issues to address before they start their preparations for the next year's T20I World Cup.
India Women Playing XI: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana, Taniya Bhatia(w), Radha Yadav, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh
Australia WomenPlaying XI: Alyssa Healy(w), Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning(c), Tahlia McGrath, Rachael Haynes, Ashleigh Gardner, Grace Harris, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown
