New Delhi: Australia defeated India by five runs to reach yet another final of the Women’s T20 World Cup. The Meg Lanning-led team got off to a brilliant start while defending 173, reducing India to 28-3, however, a magnificent counter-attack by Jemimah Rodrigues (43 off 24) and Harmanpreet Kaur (52 off 34) put India in a commanding position. Australia were under pressure with India at 97-3 in the 11th over before Jemimah threw away her wicket via a poor run out. Harmanpreet Kaur was also run out as India lost a golden chance of knocking Australia out of the tournament and making their second Women’s T20 World Cup final. India could only manage 167-8 in their 20 overs. Earlier, riding on Beth Mooney’s half-century and Ashleigh Gardner’s quick-fire cameo, defending champions Australia ended their innings at 172 for 4 in the first semi-final of the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 played at the Newlands, Cape Town. Australia captain Lanning won the toss and elected to bat against India on a pitch that looked great for batting as Mooney and Alyssa Healy took the defending champions off to a great start before Radha Yadav struck for India in the eighth over of the match by removing Healy (25). Mooney continued to take on the Indian bowlers as she brought up her fifty in 35 balls before Shikha Pandey dismissed her for 54. Mooney was earlier dropped by Shafali Verma off the bowling of Radha Yadav when she was on 32. India were sloppy on the field and the extra runs cost them the match in the end. Shikha Pandey was the pick of the bowlers for India as she returned with figures of 2 for 32 while Deepti Sharma and Radha Yadav picked up a wicket each. Lanning (49) anchored the Australian innings as Healy, Mooney and Gardner played around her to make sure Australia reach a strong total. At one point, Australia looked like settling for a score of around 150 but Ashleigh Gardner’s brilliant cameo (31) at the fag end of the innings pushed Australia to an above par score of 172-4. Brief Score: AUS 172/4 (Beth Mooney 54, Lanning 49; Shikha Pandey 2/32, Deepti Sharma 1/30) India 167/8 (Harmanpreet Kaur 52, Jemimah Rodrigues 43; Darcie Brown 2/18, Ashleigh Gardner 2/37)
