On Thursday, February 23, in Cape Town, the first semifinal of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 saw Australia defeat Team India by five runs. Because of her overall performance in the exciting match, Ashleigh Gardner was given the Player of the Match award.
After winning the toss, the team in the title match decided to bat first. Australia achieved 172/4 in 20 overs thanks to determined innings from Beth Mooney (54), Meg Lanning (49*), and Ashleigh Gardner (31).
The Indians were average in the field, dropping numerous catches and giving up extra runs due to misfields. It ultimately turned out to be highly expensive for them.
India struggled to get going in a difficult chase after being reduced to 28/3 in 3.4 overs by the Australian bowlers. When things seemed hopeless for the Ladies in Blue, Jemimah Rodrigues (43 off 24 balls) and captain Harmanpreet Kaur joined forces.
They created a remarkable 69-run counterattacking partnership for the fourth wicket. When the duo attacked and swung the match back in India’s favour, the Australian bowlers appeared to have no idea what they were doing.
In the eleventh over, Jemimah was eventually dismissed by Darcie Brown to give her team the much-needed breakthrough. At the other end, Harmanpreet Kaur continued to play well, scoring a smooth 50 and reiterating her status as a player who can win important matches.
Up until her tragic run-out dismissal in the 15th over, which allowed Australia to into the match, India appeared to be in a strong position. The Australian bowlers were able to prevent the Indian lower-order batsman from scoring easily after Harmanpreet Kaur’s exit, and they prevailed by five runs.
Here’s how the fans reacted to the loss against Australia:
Luck never favors Team India In World Cup Semifinals. BTW well played captain Harmanpreet Kaur! Fighter ♥️ #INDWvsAUSW pic.twitter.com/KcPn5oqrwA
— Simmu✨ (@meownces) February 23, 2023
Don’t know how many more matches do they have it in them… 🙁#INDWvsAUSW #womencricket #BCCIWomen pic.twitter.com/CEGsOR8LQV
— Siddhi Dedhia 💕 (@siddhi_dedhia6) February 23, 2023
#INDWvsAUSW@ImHarmanpreet @JemiRodrigues well played both
Rest were useless @BCCI @BCCIWomen please take necessary action on overrated player shefali, yastika,Thakur,Rana,Richa Smriti r always failed in big matches ! @mandhana_smriti @YastikaBhatia hate you guys,Disappointed— TheNameIsRam (@rammt07) February 23, 2023
Very Poor performance, Low Quality of cricket from our Indian Side.
They got what they deserved "Defeat"#INDWvsAUSW #T20I pic.twitter.com/Lv9ib80Bys— RO_LO (@lets_doit45) February 23, 2023
Me after seeing another defeat of India in world cup semifinal due to another runout!! #HarmanpreetKaur #INDWvsAUSW pic.twitter.com/xftYP0lBit
— Rishab_thakur (@Rishabt25766486) February 23, 2023
STOP RUNNING NO. 7 OUT IN THE SEMIS …. gutted ! This will haunt every indian fan till the next wc. #INDWvsAUSW #T20WorldCup
— Padmasree (@Padmasree05) February 23, 2023
This Pictures Hurts 💔😭 #INDWvsAUSW #WT20WorldCup #IndianCricketTeam pic.twitter.com/urJhfQ3OzG
— ßivek⁶ (@Bvekgupta) February 23, 2023
Here we lost the match @ImHarmanpreet#INDWvsAUSW pic.twitter.com/y5r2INexxm
— TheRandomHindu (@TheRandomHindu3) February 23, 2023
“Can’t feel unluckier than this! Harmanpreet Kaur
At the presentation following the game, Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur said:
“Can’t feel unluckier than this! Everything was going in favour of us, but then came my run out…. Anyway, we gave it a tough fight. We hung in there right till the end. We like to chase, we feel comfortable in doing so. Jemimah Rodrigues was excellent today.
“She got off to a flying start and gave us necessary momentum. We were not good in the field though. Quite a few mistakes in that department. But all we can do is learn from all these experiences to get back stronger.”
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