Australia is through to the finals of the Women’s ICC 20/20 final after a nail-biting win over India at Newlands.
The Australian side batted first and put up an impressive total of 4-172, with an even effort across the board. The Aussie’s were set by Beth Mooney (54 off 37), Ash Gardner (31 off 18) and Meg Lanning (49* off 34).
The start of the Indian innings saw them get off to a flyer early, before Megan Schutt had Shafali Verma trapped lbw for 9 and Ash Gardner removed Smriti Mandhana for 2 to put the Indian side on the back foot. A horrible mix-up led to Yastika Bhatia being run out, leaving the Indian side in trouble at 3-28.
India’s decision to play an extra batter in their middle order paid off as Jemimah Rodridues and inspirational captain Harmanpreet Kaur put on a 69 run partnership to get them back into the game.
Kaur was in doubt to play at all the night before and ended up being hospitalised with an illness, although watching the her performance you wouldn’t have known. Kaur batted superbly, reaching he half-century in her typical classy style, turning the momentum back to India’s side.
It wasn’t long after Kaur reached her 50 when disaster struck with what can only be described as a ‘rookie’ mistake, jogging through for a single and her bat getting jammed in the pitch, leading to be run out for 52 off just 34 deliveries. At this point in the game the Indian side were ahead of the run rate and looked set to upset the Australian side.
This run-out turned the tide for the Australian side, with their spinners in Ash Gardner (2-37) and Jess Jonassen (1-22) closing the innings superbly to guarantee their spot in the final to be played Sunday night/Monday morning.
Ash Gardner was the player of the match after 31 runs from 18 balls and important 2 wickets.
