Team India’s campaign at the 2022 Commonwealth Games could not get off to a great start as Women’s cricket made its debut in the competition. They lost to Australia by three wickets in the opening clash on Friday, July 29 at the Edgbaston Stadium in Birmingham. India failed to defend 154 runs on the ground, despite pushing Australia on the back early on in the chase.
The Harmanpreet Kaur-led team reduced Australia to 55/5 in the first eight overs. Renuka Singh, who was making her debut in the match, dismissed the top three Australian batters. She struck a mighty blow to the Aussies in the first over as she dismissed Alyssa Healy for a duck. Soon after, Meg Lanning and Beth Mooney too walked back to the hut.
Renuka Singh also dismissed Tahila McGrath before Rachael Haynes got out to Deepti Sharma. With five batters back in the hut, Australia seemed to be in a spot of bother. However, Ashleigh Gardner kept battling from one end. She put together a 51 runs stand with Grace Harris for the sixth wicket, to keep her team alive in the match. She finished off the game with an over to spare, as India’s bowling attack faltered to keep her in check.
That's that from our first game at #CWG2022
Australia win by 3 wickets.#TeamIndia will look to bounce back in the next game.
Scorecard – https://t.co/cuQZ7NHmpB #AUSvIND #B2022 pic.twitter.com/p1sn3xS6kj
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) July 29, 2022
Gardner remained unbeaten with 52 runs off 35 deliveries with nine boundaries at a strike rate of 148.57. Grace Harris also played a fine hand of 37 runs. For India, Renuka Singh remained the pick of the bowlers with 4/18 in her four overs. The rest of the bowling attack, except Deepti Sharma, couldn’t stop the runs.
Let’s take a look at how fans reacted to India’s loss against Australia in the opening clash of the 2022 Commonwealth Games:
Credit to Aus for tremendous late order fightback. India had match in the bag only to see it stolen by Gardner, Harris & King. All rounder Pooja Vastrakar sorely missed in batting & bowling. Form of Shafali, Harmanpreet, Renuka Singh & even Smriti encouraging takeaways for India
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) July 29, 2022
Eight batters who can turn a game, for Australia, to India’s six. Even on a day when most things went right for India, Australia were too good. There’s that word again, depth.
But what a start to the #CommonwealthGames2022. Women’s Cricket, here to stay!
— Snehal Pradhan (@SnehalPradhan) July 29, 2022
Such a poor bowling by
Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gaikwad and Meghna singh 💔💔 we should have won this game 🥺 but well played Harman,Shafali and Renuka 👏🏻👏🏻 #TeamIndia #indwvausw #INDvsAUS #CommonwealthGames— _deepak.jain1827 (@Deepakjain1827) July 29, 2022
India, despite taking early wickets, failed to win the opener. The bowling unit has a lot to work on.Against a team like Australia, 150+ score was always going to be below par #IndvsAus #CWG22 #Birmingham2022
— Shiva Krishna (@ShivaKrishnaG) July 29, 2022
This is too bad display of bowling from India. Lost an easy game
— Raghav (@Im_RaghavVR) July 29, 2022
Why bother telecasting a new game? Just broadcast a replay of any match because India loses in this manner so often – comes down to terrible bowling and fielding in pressure situations.
— Manya (@CSKian716) July 29, 2022
Difficult to win a T20 game if 3 of your frontline bowlers (Meghna Singh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Radha Yadav) combine to bowl 10 overs for 1-104.
Let alone when you're defending 154.
— Gurkirat Singh Gill (@gurkiratsgill) July 29, 2022
Disappointing. #INDvsAUS #CommonwealthGames #HarmanpreetKaur #RenukaThakur
— Prachi (@prachipisal_1) July 29, 2022
India wanting to lose at any cost?? This is crap of bowling in last 10-15 balls!
— Mask up, Stay home & safe, Get Vaccinated (@Kaushik1695S) July 29, 2022
Didn't know what happened after Renuka's bowling.🥲🥲
Bad performance by rajeshwari and Radha Yadav and Once again the question can be raised that why Poonam Yadav has been kept on standby😬😬#IndvAus#CommonwealthGames— gujrati chhora (@madprince_05) July 29, 2022
Australia women have defeated India in the opening game of Commonwealth Games. What a chase by Australia, they were almost out of the game, but Ashleigh Gardner masterclass takes Australia home.
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) July 29, 2022
India to take on Pakistan in CWG 2022 on Sunday
After a disappointing loss in their opening clash, India will be taking on Pakistan in Match 5 of the 2022 Commonwealth Games. The arch-rivals will batter on Sunday, July 31 at the Edgbaston in Birmingham. Before that, Pakistan will be playing its opening match against Barbados on Friday, July 29.
As per the structure of the tournament, India is in Group A with Pakistan, Barbados, and Australia. As the top two teams from the group will advance to the semi-finals, India will be keen to make a comeback against Pakistan in the tournament.
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