T20 Women’s World Cup 2024/25, AUS-W vs IND-W Match 18, Group A Match Report, October 13, 2024

Australia 151 for 8 (Harris 40, McGrath 32, Perry 32, Renuka 2-24, Deepti 2-28) scored India 142 for 9 (Harmanpreet 54*, Deepti 29, Sutherland 2-22, Molineux 2-32) for nine runs

India’s T20 World Cup semi-final hopes have been dashed after a nine-run defeat against Australia in their final group stage match. India have lost two out of four matches and will have to wait for the result of New Zealand vs Pakistan tomorrow to find out if they will advance to the knockout stage. Any margin of victory for New Zealand will eliminate India but a win for Pakistan will decide the semi-finalists by runs.

Wary Wareham does not review

Australia got off to a slow start with 17 runs off their first 16 balls when Renuka bowled Beth Mooney. The big Australian opener got to it and hit a low chance to Radha back, where he dived to take a good catch. Georgia Wareham was pushed to No. 3, where she had been used as a shortstop, and the first ball she faced bounced off the front pad as she missed her ball.

Renuka was joined by all her teammates in cheering and referee Sue Redfern finally raised her finger as Wareham started to walk away. Harris asked Wareham if he wanted a review but he decided against it, went back to the dressing room and found that ball tracking showed the ball would continue to miss leg stump by some distance. Australia held Perry back and stand-in captain McGrath was at No.4, where he had to rebuild.

Acceleration in the middle-overs from McGrath and Harris

Harris and McGrath took Australia to 37 for 2 in the powerplay and went on the attack from the eighth over, when both faced Pooja Vastrakar. McGrath beat him until he passed by four runs and then Harris lifted him to good leg by more than ten runs and took Australia past fifty. Australia were 65 for 2 at the halfway stage of their innings and the Harris-McGrath stand had grown to 62 off 54 balls and India were looking to take them apart.

They reviewed the lbw appeal against McGrath with Renuka’s full toss which was off leg. McGrath was then dismissed for 31 by Harmanpreet at Radha outside off. The Indian captain got both hands on the ball but it went wide. Harris hit the next ball in the air and Harmanpreet raced back to try to catch it but missed. It was third time lucky for India when McGrath charged at Radha, he missed and Richa Ghosh admonished him.

Then there’s the drama

Harris struck nine balls later when he pulled WPL teammate Deepti off Smriti Mandhana at mid-on and India had a foot on the Australian medium’s throat when top-order Ashleigh Gardner found Radha outside off. After 15 overs, Australia were 101 for 5. Perry showed intent when he took 13 runs off Shreyanka Patil’s third over.

India thought they had another key when Deepti claimed lbw after Phoebe Litchfield missed a reverse attempt. Redfern gave it to the field and Litchfield was leaving but Perry convinced him to review. The ball was going outside the leg stump and although Litchfield changed his stance, third umpire Jacqueline Williams thought that Litchfield had only done so after the ball had been delivered and asked Redfern to reverse his decision. India initially protested the decision but soon calmed down. Litchfield was on 5 then, finished the innings not out on 15, and hit a six off the last ball.

Shafali took the lead but India lost two runs in the powerplay

India’s aim was seen through the bat of Shafali Verma, who had to wait until the sixth ball he faced when he found the boundary with great power. She edged Gardner over square leg in India’s first four overs, then sent Megan Schutt over her head for another four and finally went all the way, hitting Schutt over long-on. Shafali had raced to 20 off 12 balls but fell to Gardner for the fifth time in T20Is, trying to get Annabel Sutherland out over long-on.

Australia is on the brakes

Australia took the lead when Rodriguez pulled Schutt straight to Gardner at deep midwicket in the seventh over. It allowed them to use the squeeze. Deepti hit 4 in the eighth over but there were no boundaries in three overs, eventually Australia confirmed their place in the semi-finals.

Harmanpreet pulled Darcie Brown to deep square leg in the 11th over, his first boundary and off the 15th ball he faced. Another 20 balls passed before India found a boundary again, in the 14th over when the required run rate was over ten overs. India needed 62 runs from the last six overs.

Another century for Harmanpreet but not enough

The Indian captain almost got his hand caught in the hunt, especially when the boundaries were dry. At the end of the 14th over, he hit a four that dominated the chase and continued to find gaps in the Indian reserve field. After Deepti sent Wareham short with a penalty for four, Harmanpreet crossed the gap between extra cover and mid off.

Deepti and Ghosh were dismissed in the space of three balls and Harmanpreet hit back-to-back fours off Gardner to ensure India stayed in the contest. He brought up his fifty from 44 balls but was at the non-striker’s end for most of the last over, where he watched four wickets fall and India’s chances vanished.