India Women secure medal at CWG 2022, enter finals of the mega event
England and India locked horns in the first semi-final of the Commonwealth Games Cricket T20 tournament. While the hosts had won all their three fixtures of the group stage, India had won two of their three games and managed to finish second in their group, below Australia. It was an interesting contest between the two teams, and it was India who emerged victorious and made it to the finals of the prestigious event.
Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and elected to bat. Her decision looked to work in her favour as opener Smriti Mandhana fired up the game from the word go. She knew the importance of winning the game and performed to the best of her ability. Right at the start of the sixth over, the team’s score was 55/0 of which Mandhana had notched up 50 runs to complete her half-century off just 23 balls, fastest for India in Women’s T20Is.
Mandhana and Shafali Verma put up a brilliant opening stand, with the former taking care of the fireworks, and sailed through the powerplay with ease, having a high run rate. But Verma’s wicket brought misery to India’s momentum. India was advancing quickly before she was dismissed, and England quickly put brakes on the Indian innings. Mandhana’s wicket was followed soon and the power-hitters had gone in a span of five balls.
Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues looked to stitch the innings back, but after hitting a couple of boundaries, the skipper had to walk back. This time again, it was the partnership between Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma that anchored India’s innings in the middle overs. The partnership was broken in the final over by Katherine Brunt, and India ended the innings at 164/4, with Rodrigues remaining unbeaten at 44*(31).
India changed the course of the game in the death overs
England dominated their chase as they were into an aggressive mode of batting from the very first ball. Even Renuka Singh, who had been the reason for India’s entry into the semi-finals, could not do much with the ball. Openers Sophia Dunkley and Danni Wyatt started off on a high note before the former was dismissed by Deepti Sharma.
Wyatt took charge of the hitting and Alice Capsey joined her in the process, but the latter had to walk back soon after a dismal run-out. Sneh Rana sent Wyatt back to the pavilion, but the top-order had done enough destruction to give their side an upper hand as England scored 86 runs in the first 10 overs of their chase.
Skipper Natalie Sciver and Amy Jones carried the game thereon. India’s brilliance on the field led to both of them being run out. The lower-order batters had charge of the game in the final over, but Sneh Rana kept her calm under pressure and dismissed Brunt, and went on to defend 15 runs off the over to take India to the finals of the mega event.
