Beaten at the last but still plenty to be proud of! Australia beats India by 85 runs to secure its 5th title

 

-Anjali Ankad 

 

 

Melbourne, 09 March: Though unbeaten in the ICC T20 Women World Cup, entering into their maiden final, India could not leap through to lift the trophy after they lost against mighty Australia by 85 runs here at MCG on Sunday. With the assistance of the opening pair and pacer, Megan Schutt Australia secured their fifth title. India failed to keep its nerves at crucial moment which led to not produce the performance when it mattered the most.

 

 

The match saw a record-breaking attendance for a women’s cricket match of 86,174 which is the highest for a women's sporting event in Australia and the highest for any women's cricket match globally. Opting to bat first, Alyssa Healy (75) and Beth Mooney (78) - the opening pair of Australia, had the momentum of the Indian bowlers. There was a chance for India to get Healy to dismiss in the fifth ball but Shafali Verma missed the opportunity. Thereon, Australia totally dominated the whole powerplay and in the middle over with gigantic sixes from Healy before getting dismissed by Radha Yadav. When it seemed like Aussies will exceed 200, India made a comeback with Deepti Sharma turned things around in the 17th over and played well in the death overs. Though they were caught, Australia did the damage with the duo's 115-run opening stand already helping Australia setting up a massive target of 185.

It was a bad day for the top order as they collapsed even before the powerplay. Verma could not produce any runs with her explosive batting, bad phase continued for Smriti Mandana and the skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues too could not hold her nerve back. India was 30 for 4 as India's top order failed to turn up on the big day. Tania Bhatiya suffered a blow to the face and was substituted by Richa Ghosh after suffering a concussion. After that, it was all the Aussies seamer Schutt who pulled up the lower order batswomen with India being all-out scoring just 99 runs leading them to be runners-up in their maiden final of World Cup.

A tale of heartbreak continued for the Indian team and Indian fans in the cricket world. Verma, in the end, broke down with Kaur and the team consoling her. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian team had not lost a single match at the World Cup till their defeat in the final. They had beaten the defending champions Australia in the group stages. They had reached their first-ever final on T20 World Cup. Winning titles in difficult situations, performing their best in front of big crowds is something very difficult if you are a newcomer in the final. However, they will win titles if they keep their nerves at critical moments and be fearless.

 

Indian team's key to success was simple - Shafali's explosive batting at the top of the order coupled with exceptional spin bowling. However, both of the factors had not to work in this crucial game. Others should have stepped up when these factors did not work. Nevertheless, India who has been such a young team should be proud of themselves for putting so many efforts and made India's attention turned to themselves with their phenomenal journey. India should have the satisfaction that they are now one of the best teams in the world.

 

 

Looking at the positives from the event, the Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said, "The way we played in the league stages, it was outstanding. It was unfortunate to drop those catches today. I still have a lot of faith in my team... Upcoming one and half years is important. The future is important for us. We need to stay calm and focus on the areas we need to improve, especially the fielding. We know we weren't able to win the game because of our fielding. We need to keep these things in mind. The future is great for us. We need to trust ourselves. I trust this team. The first game was very good, it gave us a lot of confidence. We spent a lot of time together (during the 8-day lay-off), unfortunate for us not to win today. We have to keep working hard. We are in the right line, every year we are improving. "

 

Speaking about future games she added, "We just need to think of how we are going to play with more focus in big games because sometimes, we are not able to give our best in important games. I hope the upcoming years will give us a lot of glories. This year we are hoping for some more games in the Women's T20 Challenge. That tournament is very important for our domestic cricket and we got two players from there. Hopefully, we do get more players so that they can contribute to the team."