Team India's dream of making it to the final four of the Women's T20 World Cup suffered a major blow after a narrow 9 runs defeat to Australia on Sunday. Chasing 152 runs for victory, India finished at 142/9 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who remained unbeaten on 54 runs, was left stranded at the non-striker's end for the most part in the final over. Despite the loss the women in blue can still qualify for the semi-final of the tournament.
How can India still qualify for Women's T20 World Cup semi-final?
Victory over India on Sunday saw Australia Women progressing to the semi-final of the tournament. Despite the loss, all is not lost for Team India. Having finished with group stage matches, with wins over Pakistan and Sri Lanka, they are currently placed second on the Group A table. Thus, they are in the zone to qualify, but only just.
New Zealand who are placed third on the points table can qualify for semis if they beat Pakistan in their final encounter. A win for the White Ferns will see them surpass India on points and in such a scenario, NRR would not come into play
However, if Pakistan carve out a victory over the Kiwis then the net run rate will come into play. Since India have a superior Net Run Rate compared to New Zealand, just Pakistan's victory will be enough to push them to the next stage.
Highlights from India vs Australia match
After winning the toss, Australia skipper Tahlia McGrath elected to bat first in Sharjah. The Australians managed to post a total of 151/8 from their quota of 20 overs thanks to some crucial knocks from Grace Harris (40 off 41 balls) and captain McCrath (32 off 26 balls).
For India, Renuka Singh and Deepti Sharma were India's best performers with the ball, taking 2 wickets each. Shreyanka Patil, Pooja Vastrakar and Radha Yadav took one wicket apiece.
Chasing a total of 152 runs, India were at one stage struggling at 47/3. However, a partnership between captain Harmanpreet Kaur (54 off 47 balls) and Deepti Sharma (29 off 25 balls) brought India back into the game.
However, India succumbed under pressure in the final stages of the match losing 6 quick wickets for just 31 runs. With 14 runs needed from the last over, Annabel Sutherland gave away almost nothing and eventually inflicted a 9-run loss on the Indians.
