The first semi-final match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 concluded just now with Australia Women finding the win over India Women by 5 runs in the thriller.
Australia Women won the toss and elected to bat first against India in the first semi-final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023.
Batting first, Australia Women made 172 runs at the loss of 4 wickets from the first inning. Beth Mooney who made a quick 37-ball 54 was the top run-contributor to the team in the match followed by Meg Lanning who played a not-out 49 runs innings in 34 balls. Ashleigh Gardner with 31(18) and Alyssa Healy with 25(26) were the other batters from the team to score in double digits. Grace Harris made 7(4) for the team with Ellyse Perry made 2*(2) in the match.
Shikha Pandey took two wickets for India Women in the match with Deepti Sharma and Radha Yadav taking a wicket each. India Women conceded 4 extras to Australia Women while bowling.
India Women made 167 runs at the loss of 8 wickets in the second inning and lost the match by 5 runs. India Women who struggled at the start of the inning being at 28/3 after 3.4 recovered well in the match after Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur started playing fiery innings. With Jemimah Rodrigues being out for 43(24) in 10.2, India was in a good position as Harmanpreet Kaur lead the field for India. Harmanpreet Kaur who scored a half-century in the match got out for 52 runs in 34 balls in 14.4 overs. After the fall of Kaur, India who needed below 8 runs per over to win the match couldn’t continue the inning it was before the wicket of Kaur. And, they lost three more wickets before ending the inning at 167/8.
Australia Women recovered so well with and after the wicket of Harmanpreet Kaur. Ashleigh Gardner and Darcie Brown took two wickets each for Australia Women in the match with Megan Schutt and Jess Jonassen taking a wicket each.
The defending champions are through the final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 after they recovered well at the last of the semi-final match to win it by 5 runs. Australia Women was also the first team to qualify for the semi-finals of the World Cup from the group stage.
Ashleigh Gardner from Australia Women who scored a quick 18-ball 31 and bowled 2/37 in the match was the Player of the Match.
