Birmingham 6 August : At the time of participation in T20 global tournaments following the year 2016, India was the semi-finalists in the 2018 T20 World Cup.However, their bid to win the match was stopped by England.In 2020 they are scheduled to face England again in the semifinals.But the rain and the advantage of getting higher points than their rivals in the stage of group play earned India an opportunity to play in the final, but they came second in the rankings in the final match in an enthralled crowd at the MCG.This time they were forced to take an incredibly painful defeat to South Africa on the last ball of their final group game to lose out of the ODI World Cup in New Zealand.
On Saturday, facing an adversary that was tougher than England, despite not having the assistance of injured captain Heather Knight, India broke their knockout hoodoo in T20I events and showed their resilience when it was the most crucial to qualify for the gold medal game on Sunday.
The thrilling win of four runs at Edgbaston was India’s first victory in an women’s T20I knockout game outside of Asia Cups.
After the match was over the vice-captain Smriti Mandhana, who scored a soaring 23-run fifty that was the fastest run by an Indian woman in the shorter format of the game, stated to broadcasters that she was hoping for her team to cross the finish line in the last ball.
One could sense the passion in her words.
“I tried to remember the last-ball games and hoped we could get over the line.
We haven’t been able to do that and, more than my fielding I was hoping to cross the line this time.The crowd is incredible normally we have the largest, but England did not have it today.I’ll give it a half hour to let the feeling take in.”
In keeping England to 160-6, the off-spin pair of Sneh Rana (2-28) and Deepti Sharma (1-16) bowled fast spells and pushed the pressure with dots to ensure that they do not let England batters to escape.
In the end, Deepti’s 14th & 17th overs together with Sneh’s 18th and 19th overs, in which India only had three fielders in the deep because of being slow in overs and the fact that they were slow on over rate was what differentiated India entering the gold medal match and entering the bronze medal game.
“We have handed out some overs, but with match like this, roles need been changed.Deepti’s bowls in the middle were crucial.Rana was a master of the game bowling with just three fielders in the deep.
It will be remembered for an eternity,” stated Smriti.
On her batting performance that showed she exuded elegance and was precise in her footwork, making use of crease as well as timing and putting the ball, Smriti hoped to set the tone for India again in less than 24 hours.”I was playing extremely well in the last two weeks it was as if I was playing like I was a few years ago.I’m glad to have found the right touch I’m hoping it will continue in the final, too.”
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