Australia beat India to seal their place in the semi-finals of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024, winning by nine runs despite a phenomenal knock from Harmanpreet Kaur that took the game to a dramatic final over. India’s T20 World Cup semi-final hopes have been taken out of their hands after a nine-run defeat to Australia in their final group-stage match.
Australia were without captain, opening batter and wicket-keeper Alyssa Healy, who arrived on crutches after sustaining a foot injury against Pakistan, and Tayla Vlaeminck, who has been ruled out of the tournament. Permutations aside, the tournament finally got the thriller it had been crying out for in an intense clash in front of an electric, sold-out Sharjah crowd of 14,946. They were treated to a high-octane affair with both sides acutely aware of what was at stake amid injury concerns.
Pitch and Toss
Pitch Report : The square boundaries are 59m and 63m respectively and the straight boundary is 73m. Not much grass on this surface as compared to Dubai, it’s drier. The spinners are going to get turn. The spinners who bowl stump-to-stump will get the rewards here. The big shots haven’t been easy to come over here. The primary target for the team batting first will be to score 140 and 20-30 more runs will be an added bonus, reckon Anjum Chopra and WV Raman in their pitch report.
Tahila McGrath stand in skipper for Alyssa Healy won the toss and chose to bat with two changes in playing XI bringing in Darcie Brown and Grace Harris. Harmanpreet Kaur India’s skipper bowling first made two changes to the playing XI with S Sajana being replaced by Pooja Vastrakar and Asha Shobhana being replaced by Radha Yadav.
Grace Harris, Tahila McGrath and Ellyse Perry powers Australia to 152 for 9
Australia set the stage with a solid performance, powered by Grace Harris’s 40 runs, Tahlia McGrath and Ellyse Perry, who both contributed with 32 runs each. India’s bowling attack showed promise, with Renuka Singh and Deepti Sharma each taking two wickets, while Shreyanka Patil, Pooja Vastrakar, and Radha Yadav chipped in with one wicket each.
India, who lost a final and semifinal to Australia in the last two T20 World Cups, found themselves having to chase again after stand-in skipper Tahlia McGrath called right at the toss. Almost immediately, Harmanpreet was left to do some eleventh-hour firefighting as Asha Sobhana picked up a knee injury during the warm-ups and had to be replaced by Radha Yadav.
Radha found herself in the hot zone on the field right away as she held on to a sharp catch at backward point to dismiss Beth Mooney in the third over. The bowler, Renuka Thakur, made it two from two balls when she got the next delivery to bend in to Georgia Wareham and struck her pad to win an LBW shout. The movement in the air was exaggerated and the decision would have been overturned if Australia’s No.3 had opted to review.
The double strike brought together McGrath and Grace Harris. Australia’s captain got going with a tuck through fine leg for four against the fit-again Pooja Vastrakar. With Renuka bowling a good three-over spell, India were able to keep Australia down to a PowerPlay score of 37 for 2, conceding just three boundaries to the batters.
However, McGrath and Harris went through their gears steadily as their partnership flourished. Twenty-eight runs came off the next four overs with both batters picking up a boundary each in Vastrakar’s second over. McGrath, the more free-flowing of the two batters, was reprieved when Harmanpreet put down a straightforward chance at cover. However, no damage was done as Radha had McGrath stumped two balls later in the same over for a 26-ball 32.
Harris found some rhythm in the following over with a pair of boundaries off Arundhati Reddy but no sooner did she push her strike-rate to 100, than she was dismissed for a 41-ball 40 after pulling Deepti Sharma straight to mid-wicket. Australia also lost Ash Gardner in the following over leaving them at 101 for 5 after 15 overs. While that may have pushed another team into taking conservative options to bat out the full quota of overs, the depth in Australia’s ranks allowed them to keep going.
Veteran all-rounder Ellyse Perry re-injected momentum to the innings by pulling Shreyanka Patil for a four and then heaving the over-compensated full ball over mid-wicket for a six. Phoebe Litchfield was a good foil to the power of Perry, looking to fog India’s plans with her propensity to play both kinds of sweeps.
Perry made an excellent 32 off 23 but India didn’t help their case either and their slow overrate meant they were penalized into having one fewer fielder outside the ring. Australia managed 50 in the final five overs with Litchfield hitting a six off the last ball of the innings to take Australia past the 150-mark.
India also lost Asha Sobhana to a knee injury after the toss and needed Australia’s permission to replace her in the XI, which was given. Radha Yadav, who had appeared as a substitute fielder in previous games, was included in Asha’s place. Later, Renuka Singh left the field limping after bowling her four overs but came back to face the final ball of the match.
Australia were off to a slowish start with 17 runs from their first 16 balls when Renuka struck with a delivery that angled away from Beth Mooney. Australia’s senior opener reached for it and hit a low chance to Radha at backward point, where she dived forward to take a good catch. Georgia Wareham was pushed up to No. 3, where she has occasionally been used as a pinch hitter, and the first ball she faced thudded into the front pad as she missed her flick.
Renuka was joined by every single one of her team-mates in appealing and umpire Sue Redfern eventually raised her finger as Wareham began walking off. Harris asked Wareham if she wanted to review but she decided against it, only to return to the dressing room and find out that ball tracking showed that the ball would go on to miss leg stump by some distance. Australia held Perry back and stand-in captain McGrath was in at No. 4, where she had to rebuild.
Harris and McGrath took Australia to 37 for 2 in the powerplay and launched into attack mode from the eighth over, when they both took on Pooja Vastrakar. McGrath hit her through cover for four and then Harris scooped her over fine leg in an over that cost ten runs and took Australia past fifty. Australia were 65 for 2 at the halfway stage of their innings and the Harris-McGrath stand grew to 62 off 54 balls and India were desperate to separate them.
They reviewed an lbw appeal against McGrath off a Renuka full toss which was missing leg. McGrath was then dropped on 31 by Harmanpreet off Radha at cover. The India captain got both hands on the ball but it burst through. Harris hit the next ball in the air and Harmanpreet ran back to try and take an overhead catch but missed. It was third time lucky for India when McGrath charged Radha, missed and Richa Ghosh stumped her
Harris went nine balls later when she pulled her WPL team-mate Deepti to Smriti Mandhana at short mid-on and India had their foot on the Australian middle order’s throat when Ashleigh Gardner’s leading edge found Radha at cover. After 15 overs, Australia were 101 for 5. Perry showed intent when she took 13 runs off Shreyanka Patil’s third over.
India thought they had another important breakthrough when Deepti appealed for lbw after Phoebe Litchfield missed an attempted reverse sweep. Redfern gave it out on field and Litchfield was walking but Perry convinced her to review.
The ball was pitching outside leg stump and even though Litchfield changed her stance, the third umpire Jacqueline Williams deemed that Litchfield did that only after the ball was delivered and asked Redfern to change her decision to not out. India initially protested the decision but soon calmed down. Litchfield was on 5 at the time, finished the innings unbeaten on 15, and hit a six off the last ball.
Earlier, Australia’s stand-in captain McGrath won the toss and decided to bat first against India at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. But it was India who enjoyed the better of the opening stages, as Renuka Singh struck twice in two balls to remove Beth Mooney (2) and Georgia Wareham (0) to leave Australia in need of a rebuild. It could have been an even better start for India, with new opener Grace Harris appearing to edge a flick down the leg side, but Richa Ghosh not able to hold on as she moved across.
But the rebuild did come, as Australia showcased their impressive batting depth. The defending champions reached 37/2 at the end of the powerplay, with Harris and McGrath leading the recovery. And the partnership accelerated towards the midway point of the innings to leave Australia with a solid platform at 65/2.
A fine stumping by Ghosh off Yadav accounted for the dangerous McGrath (32 from 26), and Harris, up to a new role as opener, had played the longest innings in her storied T20I career when she eventually departed for 40 from 41, dismissed by Sharma. But Australia’s long and talented batting line-up meant the quality kept on coming.
Ellyse Perry kept up the momentum with a fine 32 from 23 balls, while Ashleigh Gardner contributed a run-a-ball six before the scoring rate exploded at the back end.
The talented all-rounder Annabel Sutherland showed her quality with 10 from just 6 balls before being cleaned up by Shreyanka Patil in the final over, with Sophie Molineux (0) run out off the very next ball. Yet Phoebe Litchfield, who India thought they had dismissed when she reviewed an lbw off a reverse sweep, added a final flourish to boost the score to 151/8. Litchfield ended unbeaten on 15 from 9 balls, finishing with a six.
Harmanpreet’s Kaur 54 not out in vain as India failed to chase 152 vs Australia
Harmanpreet Kaur’s superb 54* saw India go agonizingly close to a tournament-saving win over defending champions Australia, with Kaur’s side sliding to a nine-run defeat and leave them needing a big helping hand from neighbors Pakistan to qualify for the semi-finals. Kaur had rebuilt for India as they looked to chase down 152 to win, and accelerated to her half-century to set up a final over where 14 runs were required. But four wickets fell in Annabel Sutherland’s final over, including two run outs, as India and Kaur fell short of the winning position
In response, India struggled early in their innings, losing key wickets, including that of skipper Smriti Mandhana for 8 runs. However, Deepti Sharma (29 runs) and Harmanpreet Kaur (not out 54 runs) put up a fight to keep India in contention. Despite their efforts, India’s innings took a dramatic turn in the last over when they lost four wickets, including two run-outs.
Harmanpreet Kaur scored a valiant unbeaten 54* and threatened to pull the rug from under the world champions in the closing stages of a tense chase of 151. However, there was no miracle, no great escape of which to speak.
As a glut of wickets fell in the final over, the Indian captain was pictured hunched over her bat at the non-striker’s end, crestfallen with the reality of the qualification scenario looming large. India now need Pakistan to do them a favour in tomorrow’s clash against New Zealand. The holders, on the other hand, sealed qualification to yet another World Cup semifinal.
Harmanpreet will revisit different parts of this game in her debrief. Among those will be a five-over stretch between overs 8 and 13 that brought just 25 runs with the experienced pair of Kaur and Deepti Sharma hunkering down to rebuild to try and take the chase deep. That meant, India allowed the asking rate to climb up above 10.
In the context of the game itself, it wasn’t all that bad. They were 99 for 3 after 15 overs compared to Australia’s 101 for 5. But where Australia are blessed with hitting power right through their line-up, India were reliant on Harmanpreet to do most of the heavy lifting.
Batting on 27 off 31 at that stage, Harmanpreet kicked into gear and managed to get to a 44-ball half-century, hitting two fours of Ash Gardner in the 18th over and another off Sophie Molineux in the 19th. But having brought the equation down from 40 off 18 to 14 off 6, she found herself away from the strike after the first ball of the final over and was powerless to have any say as Annabel Sutherland (2 for 22) produced a fine display of death-overs bowling.
With no team having managed even 100 against this Australian attack, India were up against it and needed a fast start. Shafali Verma set about providing just that, sweeping Gardner for four at the end of the second over. The young opener took on Megan Schutt in the third over, playing pick-up shots to full deliveries for a four and a six.
Her stay at the crease, however, turned out to be brief as Gardner slipped in a full delivery and denied Verma leverage to play her slog sweep. Her shot ended straight down the throat of long-on and she was dismissed for a 13-ball 20.
India continued to force the pace in the PowerPlay as Jemimah Rodrigues played two exquisite lofted shots off Annabel Sutherland for fours. However, they were dealt another setback in the sixth over as Smriti Mandhana was trapped LBW by Sophie Molineux with her first ball. India slipped to 48 for 3 after the seventh over as Rodrigues’ enterprise ended with a pull shot off Schutt that went straight down deep mid-wicket’s throat.
Harmanpreet and Deepti put on 63 off 55 balls from that point on. As it turned out, it wasn’t enough to get India over the line in the final act of the game.
India’s intent was evident off the bat of Shafali Verma, who had to wait until only the sixth ball she faced when she found the boundary with great force. She slogged Gardner over square leg for India’s first four, then sent Megan Schutt over her head for four more and finally went all the way, slamming Schutt over long-off. Shafali had soon raced to 20 off 12 balls but fell to Gardner for the fifth time in T20Is, trying to clear Annabel Sutherland at long-on.
Australia sensed an opportunity to break through and when Sutherland rapped Jemimah Rodrigues on the pad. They reviewed the call after it was given not out only to find that the impact was outside the line. Their next review was successful, when Mandhana was beaten on the pull and hit on the back thigh off Sophie Molineux’s quick, skiddy first ball. Ball-tracking confirmed it was hitting the middle of middle stump and India ended their powerplay on 41 for 2.
Australia got even further ahead when Rodrigues pulled Schutt straight to Gardner at deep midwicket in the seventh over. It allowed them to apply the squeeze. Deepti gloved a sweep for four in the eighth over but then there were no boundaries for three overs, at the end of which Australia had confirmed their semi-final spot.
Harmanpreet pulled Darcie Brown through deep square leg in the 11th over, which was her first boundary and off the 15th ball she faced. Another 20 balls went by before India found the boundary again, in the 14th over by which point the required run rate was above ten an over. India needed 62 runs off the last six overs.
The India captain almost single-handedly kept her side in the hunt, especially when the boundaries dried up. At the end of the 14th over, she hit the four that reignited the chase and she went on to find gaps in the field that kept India in it. After Deepti sent Wareham over short fine for four, Harmanpreet bisected the gap between extra cover and mid-off.
Deepti and Ghosh were dismissed in the space of three balls and Harmanpreet struck successive fours off Gardner to make sure India stayed in the contest. She brought up fifty off 44 balls but was at the non-striker’s end for most of the final over, from where watched four wickets fall and India’s chances fade away.
India were pegged back after a decent start with the bat as Shafali Verma got her team off to a flier with a flurry in the powerplay. But her promising knock of 20 (from 13 balls) came to an abrupt end when she was caught off Ash Gardner.
And fellow opener Smriti Mandhana also fell in the powerplay, trapped lbw by Sophie Molineux to end a patient contribution of 6 (12).India closed the powerplay with the score on 41/2, with Jemimah Rodrigues and captain Harmanpreet Kaur out in the middle. But Rodrigues soon joined the openers back in the dugout, caught for 16 (12), and India needed a big second half of the innings with the score at 67/3 at drinks.
The run rate kept on rising, but Deepti Sharma and Kaur ensured that the game went long. When Molineux returned to remove Deepti for 29 from 25, it looked like the chance of an Indian win was gone. But captain Kaur had other ideas, reaching her half-century and setting up a dramatic final over with 14 runs required to snatch victory.
A miscued shot from the India skipper off the first ball of the over saw her run a single and share the responsibilities with her teammates. But that gamble did not pay off as India lost four wickets in a dramatic death-bowling effort from Sutherland. Pooja Vastrakar was cleaned up by a full delivery, with new better Arundhati Reddy run out looking to get Kaur back on strike.
Shreyanka Patil was run out as the batting pair tried to steal an extra single off a wide, and the match was finished up when Radha Yadav was trapped lbw first ball off the fifth legal delivery of the over. Harmanpreet Kaur finished stranded on 54* from 47 balls, and hung her head in disappointment after ultimately failing to pull off a Sharjah miracle.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Tahila McGrath stand in skipper for Alyssa Healy and the winning skipper said : We want to win every game we play, India came really hard at us, the girls played really well and I’m proud of them. The whole team got around me, a lot of players in different roles today and they stepped up. It was a bit hard, it was skidding on at times and keeping low at other times. We constantly kept talking about what’s a par total.
We know that we have a lot of depth and we can play with complete freedom. We have shuffled our batting order a few times. When it got tight towards the end, I turned to Perry and picked her cricket brain. She is very calm and has a great understanding of the game. Maybe it will be a touristy day tomorrow in Dubai and then we will focus on the job at hand.
Harmanpreet Kaur the losing skipper said : (On the difference between the two sides tonight) I think their entire team contribute, they don’t depend on one or two players, they have a lot of all-rounders who contribute. We also planned well and we were there in the game.
They didn’t gave away easy runs and made it difficult. They are an experienced side. That is something that is not in your control, you have to always keep your playing eleven ready even when one or two player misses out. Radha bowled really well, she was in the game and she was fielding well.
You need a character like that in the team who is always there. It was a chaseable total. When me and Deepti were batting, we couldn’t hit a few loose balls. We can learn a lot from Australia. Whatever was in our hands, we were trying to do that but that’s something not in our control. If we get the opportunity to play another game, that will be great. But otherwise, whoever deserves to be there, that team will be there.
Sophie Molineux is Player of the Match for her performance said : It was a really good game, India came out hard. It was a quality game and it went down to the wire, we held on to our nerves. We wanted to stay calm and all the senior players stepped up. When the pressure was on, we bounced back. (On the crowd being loud) It was very loud, I felt it was one-sided towards India.
We said that we will talk loudly and look towards our leader. It’s massive (on making it to the semi-finals), any game against India, you can mark it down in the calendar that it’s going to be a tight one. To get over the line and the fact that everyone chipped in, it’s great.
Australia close out a game which India threatened to pull out from under their noses. Kaur fought till the end but Sutherland kept her away from the strike in the last over and Australia sneak home. That’s why they are such serial winners and so hard to beat in women’s cricket. All the important moments they grabbed hold of tonight.
Shafali started off dangerously but Ash Gardner snuffed her out and they strangled the Indians in the middle-overs with them building up pressure and racking up the dots. Even Kaur failed to strike at over 100 during that phase. And when Deepti Sharma and Kaur hit a flurry of boundaries, Molineux forced the left-hander to find the deep fielder, hitting to the longest part of the fence. And then in the last over Sutherland did her job expertly nailing it full and keeping it on the stumps.
Kaur battled hard but it was a target that was just out of her reach. Australia win four out of four and qualify for the semis, while India’s fate now rests on tomorrow’s game between Pakistan and New Zealand. A reminder that India’s NRR is now over New Zealand’s as they reached 139
It was a humdinger of a game that we witnessed. India pushed Australia deep but as they say, the experience of being there in the big moments and winning those moments count – that’s what the defending champions once again proved tonight. The defending champions have made it to the semis for the ninth straight time in a row.
Tonight’s result makes the last Group A encounter between Pakistan and New Zealand even more enticing. Along with India and New Zealand, Pakistan also have a slim chance of making it to the semis. Here’s a scenario to throw some light on tomorrow’s contest – India will qualify for the semis if Pakistan beat New Zealand tomorrow and here are the margins – by no more than 53 runs if they bat first; with no more than 9.1 overs remaining if they chase (assumption is of a first innings score of 150 in both cases).
The result means that India can only finish in the top two in Group A if Pakistan beat New Zealand on Monday by a narrow-enough margin not to move into second themselves on NRR. A win for the White Ferns in that game will consign India to a group-stage exit. Australia are the first team to seal a place in the semi-finals, having won all four of their group matches.