Women’s T20 World Cup: India Out From Finale Race As Australia Wins In Nail-Biting Semi-Finals

Australia has reached their seventh successive T20 World Cup final. In the semi-final match with an all-powerful fight from India, who came five runs short in a thrilling semi-final in Cape Town on Thursday. Where India Captain Harmanpreet Kaur found it hard to control her tears as she blamed her poor luck for a freak run-out that led to another heart-breaking knock-out defeat against Australia. 

Harmanpreet Kaur was ill on the eve of the match and was shortly hospitalised with a fever. But fronted up to lead her side and almost took them home. After a poor start which left India on 28 for 3 in the fourth over, Harmanpreet shared in a 69-run fourth-wicket stand with Jemimah Rodrigues. After that brought up her first fifty of the tournament. She had barely celebrated it when her bat got stuck in the ground while sliding it for a second run and Alyssa Healy was quick to break the stumps, leaving India’s middle and lower order to get 40 runs off the last 32 balls.

The Indian Captain’s  Statements

“Can’t feel unluckier than this,” Harmanpreet expressed at the post-match presentation ceremony. Further “We got the momentum back with Jemi (Rodrigues). To lose from here, we weren’t expecting this,” stated Harmanpreet, as she struggled for words after the shattering defeat. 

Also Read: Women’s T-20 WC: Will India Grab Ticket To Finale In Do-Or-Die Match Against Australia Today?

The Indian Captain credited Jemimah for her gutsy show and said she was satisfied with the overall performance. “Even after losing the first two wickets, we knew we had a good batting line-up. I should give credit to Jemimah, she gave us the momentum. Happy to see some good performances,” she added.

While Australian skipper Meg Lanning was happy that her team made it to their seventh global T20 final despite not playing at their best, she expresses her feelings, “One of the best wins I’ve been involved in, to fight back after not playing the best cricket in all three facets. We missed our lengths and gave some width. India came hard at us, so we knew this score would’ve been hard to defend. But we pulled through in the crunch moments.”