Thrill Win! India gets ticket to semi-finals after beating NZ by 4 runs
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-Anjali Ankad
Melbourne, February 27: Shafali Verma once again helped India with her bat to book India's berth for the semi-finals of the ICC T20 World Cup tournament after the ICC women's team defeated New Zealand with a narrow margin of 4 runs in a very low-scoring game at Junction Oval here on Thursday. India becomes the first team to qualify for the semifinal of this World Cup.
Choosing to bowl first, New Zealand were put in a tight spot after Verma (46 runs off 34 ) once again, with her typical style, went for sixes and fours. On the other hand, Smriti Mandana's early dismissal did give a scare but Taniya Bhatia who was promoted at top order added 23 runs to the 51-run partnership with Verma before getting out. However, the middle order could not settle down as the NZ bowlers were going after them and took frequent wickets restricting India to 133/8.
After NZ succeeded India to put up a low-scoring total, Rachel Priest gave a good start as she went for fours in the first over. However, it did not last long as the spinners Shikha Pandey and Poonam Yadav with their magic spell got out both the opening pair. All the four spinners took the responsibilities on them to ensure that if wickets are taken frequently, then there is a way to win the game and they did it. In the last two overs, they needed 34 runs.
When Yadav was given the ball to bowl the second last over, she had conceded 18 runs including four boundaries. Here, Amelia Kerr (34 runs off 19 balls) played a big part by trying to turn the game in NZ's favor but Shikha held her nerve. She did concede boundaries in the penultimate over but she made sure she will not get over the line and make her team win.
One big takeaway is that India, till now has lost two out three tosses and batted first in all the three matches. So, the big credit for winning the games for India has been the bowlers especially the spinners and the fact that India can earn victory despite winning or losing the toss. The spinners have been the biggest asset in this tournament as they have shown the bowling unit can be match-winners. Along with it, the fearless Verma has displayed her performance which will assist India to take one step closer to the trophy.
Nevertheless, India's middle-order woes are back again though, in the last few matches, they have not produced a good performance will help India to put a greater a target for the opponents while batting first. Today, they slipped from 80 for 2 to 111 for 7. The other big concern is the captain's form. The Indian captain Harmanpreet Singh had her third successive single-digit score in the tournament.
Acknowledging the mistakes, the Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said, "It is a great feeling when your team is performing like that. We did the same mistakes, we got a good start in the first 10 overs and we didn't carry the momentum. We did bowl well in patches and some times we were not up to the mark and have to focus on those areas. She is giving us good starts and I hope she continues doing that as quick runs at the top is really important to us."
The player of the match, Shafali Verma, "I was happy with the performance and wanted to give a good start at the powerplay. I waited for the loose balls which are my strength and it paid off today. I practiced a lot with the boys and I want to thank my dad and all the boys at the practice who helped me train well in batting."
India will take on Sri Lanka day after at the same venue. Brief scores: India 133/8 in 20 overs (Shafali Verma 46, Taniya Bhatia 23; Amelia Kerr 2-21, Rosemary Mair 2-27) beat New Zealand 129/6 in 20 overs (Amelia Kerr 34*; Shikha Pandey 1-21) by 4 runs.