Finance
Harmanpreet Kaur’s India advanced to the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup semifinals by defeating Ireland in a must-win match via D/L method in a rain-interrupted match.
After losing to England in a crucial Group B match, India needed to beat Ireland on Monday to advance to the last four. In 20 overs, they managed a respectable score of 155/6. When rain stopped play, Ireland were 54/2 in 8.2 overs. India eventually won the match after Ireland fell five runs short of the revised target.
Ireland recovered well after two early blows, but were still five runs short of the DLS par score as rain interrupted play in Gqeberha.
Renuka Singh followed up her fantastic new ball spell against England by cleaning up Prendergast to put India right on top early in the second innings after a mix-up on the first ball saw Hunter run at the wicketkeeper’s end.
Gaby Lewis and Laura Delany joined forces, and the pair did an outstanding job of keeping the required run rate from rising too high, propelling the team to 44/2 in the Powerplay. However, rain fell in Gqeberha, halting Ireland’s recovery and, more concerningly, leaving them five runs behind the DLS par score.
Earlier, Smriti Mandhana hit a 56-ball 87, but the others failed to contribute big scores, and India had to settle for 155/6 in their 20 overs.
Mandhana was at her best on Monday, creaming her drives early on before clearing the fence three times in the middle overs to up the ante.
Ireland could only send her back in the 19th over, but they quickly followed it up with the wicket of Deepti Sharma on the next ball, pegging India back quite late.
After winning the toss, India chose to bat first and got off to a good start, with Mandhana playing some crisp strokes. The openers put on a half-century stand before Shafali Verma was caught in the deep for 24 by Amy Hunter.
Harmanpreet Kaur, who came in at No. 3, became the fourth women’s cricketer to reach the 3000 run mark in T20Is in this format. She forged a strong stand with Mandhana, who completed her half-century with a thumping six over mid-wicket.
Harmanpreet was out in the 16th over, caught by Orla Prendergast running in from the deep. Laura Delany completed a three-wicket haul by dismissing Richa Ghosh for a duck in the same over.
Meanwhile, Ireland has yet to replicate the performance that saw them defeat Australia in the warm-up match. They have lost all three matches so far, but will look to put the Indian lineup to the test in order to record their first win at the Women’s T20 World Cup.
With a win over England, Harmanpreet Kaur and her team could have taken control of Group 2 and advanced to the semi-finals.
However, the failed attempt to apprehend 152 temporarily removed India’s fate from their own hands.
However, they received a huge boost on Sunday when the West Indies successfully defended 116 to defeat Pakistan. With that result, England qualified, and India clinched their spot by defeating Ireland despite the rain delay.
Brief scores:
India 155/6 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 87, Shafali Verma 24; Laura Delany 3-33, Orla Prendergast 2-22) beat Ireland 54/2 in 8.2 overs (Gaby Lewis 32 not out, Laura Delany 19 not out) by five runs (DL Method).
Source:OCN
