Led by Smriti Mandhana's fireworks, Harmanpreet Kaur's Team India defeated Ireland by 5 runs (DLS) to enter the semifinals of the T20 World Cup 2023.
India won the toss and Harmanpreet Kaur elected to bat first. Batting first, Shafali Verma played an uncharacteristic knock of 24 off 29 deliveries, while Mandhana kept playing her shots. India accumulated 42 runs after the Powerplay. Mandhana continued to play her shots, but the other batters like skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh couldn't chip in as India faltered in the end, posting 155 in 20 overs. Mandhana eventually struck a classy, yet error-laden 87 to fire India's total up to 155. This was also Mandhana's highest ever T20I score.
Chasing 156, Ireland lost two wickets in the first over itself but recovered well to post 44 after the first six overs. Rain gods though had other plans, and it started pouring down, with Ireland still 5 runs behind the DLS par score. The match, as it turned out, did not resume and India took home the laurels.
"Reaching the semifinals means a lot. We are working hard for so many years and we always want to do well. Hope we'll give our 100%. against Australia. It will be a do or die game. We just want to go and play free cricket," said Kaur during the post-match presentations.
Record Breaking Harmanpreet Kaur
Harmanpreet Kaur scripted history as she became the first Indian woman cricketer to score 3000 T2OI runs. In the all-time list, Kaur stands at number four, behind Stafanie Taylor, who has 3166 international runs. Not only this, Kaur become the first and only player on the planet- across Men and Women's cricket to feature in 150 T20I games for India. Kaur played her 149th T20I against England on Sunday and shattered Rohit Sharma's record for most appearances (148) in the shortest format.
India, in all probability, will face Australia in the semifinals on Feb. 23 in Newlands, Cape Town.
