Australian women beat their Indian counterparts in a convincing manner to book themselves a semi-final spot in the ongoing Women’s World Cup. Indian eves lost by 8 wickets and with 29 balls to spare. In the first half of the tournament India was the team to beat, but now they find themselves reeling after two consecutive loss. Now they need to put their act together if they want to make it to the last four of the coveted ICC tournament. But, during yesterday’s match we saw Indian skipper Mithali Raj getting to a world record. She became the highest run-getter in the history of women’s cricket going on to pip Charlotte Edwards on her way. She scored 69 off 114 balls, yet India lost the match.
In this article, we will tell you five reasons why Indian eves lost.
Losing wickets in clusters: Apart from the 157 run partnership stitched by Mithali Raj and Poonam Raut, there were no substantial partnerships and that led to the downfall of the eves. From a strong position of being at 203/2, India’s middle order fluffed yet again and were quickly reduced to 211/6. Losing wickets at regular intervals never helped India’s cause and whenever they wanted to up the ante, they were set back. That did not help as they could not post a decent total to give Australia a run for their money.
The crush, crushed hearts: Smriti Mandhana who came to limelight on the back of her knocks of 90* and 106, could not leave a mark against Australia as she was dismissed for just 3 runs. When you are playing a big team like Australia at an ICC event you need to get off to a solid start and that did not happen as she was back in the hut within the first four overs.
Butterfingers on display: Indian eves who were defending a low score needed their fielders to stand up and save runs, but that was not to be as they were sloppy in the field. When you are playing a big team like Australia at an ICC event, you need to be at your best. The intent was missing and they also looked lacklustre and lacked the zing.
__ What a day it was for @M_Raj03, as she became the highest ODI run scorer and first woman past 6,000 runs in the format! _ #WWC17 pic.twitter.com/AWwGiq106o
— ICC (@ICC) July 13, 2017
Poonam Raut reaches 50
Tortoise-like innings by Mithali Raj: She has become the toast of the nation. Requiring 34 runs for the world record, Mithali Raj took her own sweet time, which was not the need of the hour. Mithali scored 69 off 114 balls. Being the captain of the team, she should have pressed on the accelerator much earlier. India played a staggering 159 dot balls, which never helps.
6_matches _
1_remaining @BCCIWomen or the @WHITE_FERNS, who will book a place in the Semi-Finals? #WWC17 pic.twitter.com/LpbXPm2I0H— ICC (@ICC) July 12, 2017
Spinners couldn’t spin a web: Indian eves boast on their spinners. It was the spinners who curated India’s win against Pakistan. Mithali must have been expecting a big performance from the spin trio of Ekta Bisht, Deepti Sharma and Harmanpreet Kaur could not create an impact and that set India back. Mithali was relying heavily on the spin trio.
