India Women cantered to a 36–run win over Australia Women after Harmanpreet Kaur (171*) clobbered the opposition mercilessly to help set the defending champions a 282-run target in the ICC Women’s World Cup semi-final.
In a match that was reduced to 42-overs-a-side due to rain, the hard-hitting all-rounder first laid the foundation with skipper Mithali Raj and then went on a non-stop assault. The Jhulan Goswami-led attack then bowled Australia out for 245.
After Mithali opted to bat, Smriti Mandhana sliced the ball to backward point and departed in the first over. Punam Raut holed out to deep mid-wicket a bit later and left India on the backfoot. At 35 for two, Harmanpreet joined her skipper.
After patiently working themselves into a comfortable position, the pair began to glean runs off Australia. While they kept they scoreboard ticking, the middle-order bat took the attack to the opponents. In an unbridled display of power, she swept and slammed the bowlers over the ropes at regular intervals. However, with the stand worth 66, she was bowled by Kristen Beams.
With Deepti at the other end, Harmanpreet continued to attack. She dismissed Beams over long on and a ball later dispatched her to mid-wicket fence to bring up her half-century. Singles and twos helped build the pace, but it was the No 4 bat’s big hits that swung the momentum in India’s favour. While there were flat hits that crashed into the boundary, the huge ones soared over the ropes; there were also cheeky lap shots and well-timed drives that built the innings. While adding runs at a quick pace, she reached her century with two. A mix-up with Deepti at the juncture could have led to a run out, but the dive saved the player.
Harmanpreet quickly gained back her composure to accelerate further. With the four-over powerplay commencing, she picked 23 runs off Ashleigh Gardener. The fourth wicket partnership was worth 137 runs when Deepti was bowled by Elyse Villani for 25 runs.
With 20 balls left in the innings, Krishnamurthy joined Harmanpreet and the duo added 43 runs. The all-rounder reached her 150 with a single to the square-leg region. She dismissed Jess Jonassen for two back-to-back sixes as they collected 19 off the penultimate over. And with a boundary each besides quick running between the wickets, they added 13 to the tally in the last over.
In her first over, Shikha Pandey then uprooted Beth Mooney’s off-stump with a ball that came in. Five runs later, Goswami knocked back Meg Lanning’s off stump to leave Australia on nine for two. After 12 runs, Nicole Bolton handed a return catch to Deepti and left Australia tottering on 21 for three.
Ellyse Perry and Villani then stitched a 105-run partnership to keep Australia in the game. While on 75, Villani struck Rajeshwari Gayakwad towards mid-on and Mandhana took a good catch to end the flourishing partnership. And 14 runs later, Pandey re-introduced into the attack, sent Perry back. The batter edged the ball and Sushma Verma took a low catch to leave Australia on 140 for five.
With the pressure building up, Alyssa Healy looking to up the ante, departed hitting Goswami to mid-on leaving Australia on 148 for six. Poonam Yadav then followed up with the wicket of Gardner and in the next over, Jonassen backing up way out of her crease, was run out at the non-striker's end. After Alex Blackwell hit back the ball hard, Goswami got a hand to it and it crashed onto the stumps. Megan Schutt then hit Deepti to mid-wicket and followed her back an over later. Against all odds, Alex Blackwell launched a counterattack and got Australia close with her audacious hitting. She struck three sixes and 10 fours to race to 90 off just 56 balls before being bowled by Deepti in the first ball of the 41st over.
Player of the Match: Harmanpreet Kaur for her match-winning unbeaten 171-run knock off 115 balls.
