Another final, another collapse, another heartbreak! Indian women's cricket were on the wrong side of another thrilling final as Australia won the inaugural gold medal in the T20 competition in the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur played a sensational knock of 65 off 43 in the night of the final but once her partnership with Jemimah Rodrigues was broken, it was all Australia as the Women in Blue collapsed from 118/2 to 152 all out losing the last eight wickets in 34 runs. India fell short by inches in another close match as they secured a silver medal in the first-ever women's tournament in CWG.
India got off to a flyer in the first over with Shafali Verma hitting a couple of boundaries as the Women in Blue raced off to 12/0. However, Darcie Brown gave India a huge blow dismissing Smriti Mandhana, who was coming off from a quick half-century in the semi-final against England, in the second over of the innings. Shafali too, in a bid to attack the off-spinner Ash Gardner, lost her wicket as the team was in early trouble at 22/2.
Harmanpreet brought up her fifty as the captain was leading from the front when it mattered the most.
Jemimah too hit a couple of good shots and India were really cruising just before Australia decided to have say in the match. Jemimah was dismissed by Megan Schutt before she shared a 96-run stand with skipper. India needed 44 off 33 but then they lost Harmanpreet and Pooja Vastrakar as well in a consecutive balls to Gardner and India had suddenly lost three wickets.
Sneha Rana and Deepti Sharma got a couple of crucial boundaries and lucky 5 wides to push India towards victory but continuous wickets didn't help them. Concussion substitute Yastika Bhatia tried her best but regular wickets and ever-rising run rate didn't help her cause and eventually the Women in Blue fell short by 9 runs
Harmanpreet said that had one of her or even Pooja Vastrakar had stayed till the end, they would have won the gold medal, however, she said that silver is not any less achievement while adding that they will learn from this and this team is not far from dominating the sport, as her counterpart Meg Lanning admitted too.
"I know we could've easily won gold, but something is better than nothing, at least we got silver. We deserved it for so much hard work. If not gold, we're satisfied with what we got today.
[As a team] we are on the right track, we just need to keep working hard. As Lanning said, we're not far from dominating across formats. We are improving as a team and time is not far when we will start winning back-to-back," Harmanpreet further added.
"Every time in big finals, we make the same mistakes again and again [with the bat], that is something we have to improve. We don't do these mistakes in the league phase or in bilateral. That is blocking our mind somewhere. I am someone who is always looking for one more batter in the side. Unfortunately, we're working on that. Once we get that, this thing [collapsing] will go away," she said after the match.
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