On Sunday (8th March), the defending champions Australia Women won their fifth trophy in ICC Women’s T20 World Cup history after beating India Women by 85 runs in the final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020. Australia Women became the second team, after the inaugural edition winners England Women (2009), to win the WT20 WC as the hosts.
After winning the toss at MCG (Melbourne), Australia Women’s captain Meg Lanning decided to bat first. While her team scored 184/4 (20 overs), India Women were bundled out for just 99 runs (19.1 overs).
India Women: Only Deepti Sharma managed to score 20+ runs
Indian batters were struggling from the beginning of the second innings as there was no strong fight. While Shafali Verma (2) was dismissed on the third ball of that innings, wicketkeeper-batter Taniya Bhatia (2) was retired hurt in six balls later after getting hit on the helmet. Later, in 12th over when Veda Krishnamurthy (19) was dismissed, Richa Ghosh replaced Bhatia as the concussion substitute.
Among the first five batters in the India Women squad, only the opener Smriti Mandhana (11) managed to reach the double-digit scores.
While Deepti Sharma scored the highest runs for India Women which was 33 runs, Richa Ghosh was dismissed after scoring 18 runs.
Among the Australia Women bowlers, Megan Schutt (4/18) took four wickets, and Jess Jonassen (3/20) got three wickets.
Australia Women: Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney properly utilised their opportunities
Both the Australia Women openers wicketkeeper-batter Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney provided a solid start after the Indians dropped two early chances. While both the openers got one life each at the beginning of the innings, they utilised those opportunities properly and punished the India Women bowlers.
The Aussie openers built up the century partnership (115 runs) and set the perfect condition for the big first innings total. Both the openers not only scored half-centuries, but they also stretched their innings to 70s. While Healy scored 75 runs off just 39 balls (7 fours and 5 sixes), Mooney remained not out of 78 runs off 54 balls (10 fours). While captain Meg Lanning scored 16 runs (15 balls), the other batters didn’t get enough chances.
Among the India Women bowlers, while Deepti Sharma (2/38) took two wickets, Poonam Yadav (1/30) and Radha Yadav (1/34) got one wicket each.
While Alyssa Healy won the Player of the Match award in this final game, Beth Mooney has been awarded the Player of the Tournament for finishing as the leading run-scorer (259 runs in six innings).