Women's T20 World Cup 2023: India crumble under pressure, lose to Australia in semi-final
Harmanpreet Kaur’s run out in the 15th over of India’s chase plays a crucial role in Australia’s five-run semi-final victory
She didn’t slide the bat in. Instead, Harmanpreet Kaur plonked the bat down and it got stuck in the turf at Newlands in Cape Town. The Indian skipper was heading back for a comfortable two but she was trapped at that moment and watched, almost helplessly, as Australian wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy whipped the bails off.

Harmanpreet, who scored a brilliant 52 off 34 balls, said she was unlucky. Others will say she was casual but the end result is that India lost a semi-final that they seemed on course to win.
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Australia, after choosing to bat first, reached 172/4 thanks to some poor fielding and dropped catches by the team in blue. In reply, India staged a fine recovery, after being reduced to 28/3 in the early going, to reach 93/3 at the end of 10 overs. But they then lost their way and ended up five runs short of the Australian total.
This was the first time Australia had been pushed this hard in the tournament. But that will offer little consolation to an Indian team that was in the driver’s seat at various points during the game.
Australia made a steady if sedate start to their innings to reach 69/1 at the 10-over mark. India were doing well to control the pace of the innings but this is when they started to make the little mistakes that hurt them in the long run.
Catches were dropped and there were numerous misfields as India allowed Australia back into the game. Meg Lanning (49 not out off 34 balls) and Ash Gardner (31 off 18 balls) shared a 53-run stand off 36 balls to kickstart their team’s fightback.
But as Australia found their feet, India faltered. The bowling, which had been so good in the early phase, became loose and there were plenty of four-balls that were suddenly on offer. The Aussie batters took a full toll on the generosity. Take the last over of the innings for instance, Renuka Singh bowled two full tosses and both were hit for sixes.
The defending champs added 61 runs in the last five and 30 in the last two to reach a rather imposing total of 172.
In reply, India needed to come out and bat fearlessly. It was something that Richa Ghosh had harped upon in the pre-match press conference. But after they were reduced to 28/3, it seemed like playing ‘fearlessly’ was just talk.
But Jemimah Rodrigues (43 off 24) showed that she was certainly not overawed by the moment. She hit the first two balls she faced for four and then proceeded to build a stunning 69-run partnership with Harmanpreet. It pushed Australia into a corner and to a point where it looked like India only needed to deliver a knockout blow.
However, Rodrigues went for a ramp shot off a delivery that was way above her head but got an edge instead of the four she sought. For each brilliant act performed on the field, India delivered moments that defied cricketing logic in equal measure. That was the tragedy on a day that could have been so different.
Harmanpreet, in particular, had looked in top-notch form despite having had an average tournament thus far. The 33-year-old was cleared to lead India despite being admitted to the hospital on Wednesday with a fever. But she needed support and she got it from Rodrigues.
But the wicket seemed to give Australia some breathing space and, as it turned out, that was all they needed.
The Harmanpreet run-out was shocker and it knocked the wind out of India’s sails even as Australia found a way to stay focussed on the match.
An emotional Harmanpreet said after the game, “I cannot feel unluckier than this (getting run out like that). We got the momentum back with Jemi. To lose from here, we weren’t expecting this.”
She added: “Putting in the effort was important and we were happy to go to the last ball. We wanted to fight till the last ball. Today we wanted to chase too, so that was fine when they chose to bat. Even after losing the first two wickets, we knew we had a good batting line-up. I should give credit to Jemimah, she gave us the momentum. I am happy to see some good performances. We played some good cricket. Today was something where we wanted to play our natural game. Few of us did that. We again gave some easy catches away. When you have to win, you have to take your chances. We can only learn from these.”
Meanwhile, Australia captain Meg Lanning said: “It was one of the best wins I’ve been involved in, to fight back after not playing the best cricket in all three facets. We missed our lengths and gave some width. India came hard at us, so we knew this score would’ve been hard to defend. But we pulled through in the clutch moments. I got nervous a couple of times.”
