T20 World Cup 2023: Australian women’s team are into their consecutive seventh finals in the Women’s T20 World Cup, the 5 times champions beat India by 5 runs in the first semifinal at Cape Town in T20 World Cup 2023.
Australian all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner expressed that after the 10th over mark in the Indian innings, Meg Lanning’s side was in no position to win the game.
The off-break bowler Gardner ranked the victory ‘pretty high’ on Australian triump over the years-
“I think at the ten-over mark in India’s batting innings, everyone had probably written us off, but I think that just shows our character within our side and that’s why the best teams win in those types of positions,” said Gardner
“What we speak about is when our backs are up against the wall, we always try and find a way, and today we probably had no right to win at one point there. They were cruising and then we found a way to get some wickets and ultimately came out on top.” she further added.
Harmanpreet Singh-led side needed 16 off the last over, Player of the Match Gardner came to bowl the final over, she gave away only ten and claimed her second wicket as Ellyse Perry held her nerve and settled under a skier at long-on, by Radha Yadav, to allow Australian side to reach the 2023 Women’sT20 World Cup final.
Team India’s innings took a turn when skipper Harmanpreet ran out in the 15th over for 52 runs, after that Indian side was in no position to chase down the target of 173 runs.
“We showed our class today in the field and we always speak about as a group being the best fielding team in the world, and I think today really showed that. Ellyse Perry was elite on the boundary. Whether it’s dropped catches, [or] missed opportunities in the field, those ultimately add up to quite a lot of runs and I think we took those moments when we really needed to,” Gardner said.
A fiery 18-ball 31 and two big wickets, including that of Smriti Mandhana 👊
Ashleigh Gardner is the @aramco #POTM 🎉#AUSvIND | #T20WorldCup | #TurnItUp pic.twitter.com/rRcVIRt8C6
— ICC (@ICC) February 23, 2023
“I certainly think Pez is probably the blueprint for our side going forward – certainly on the boundary. At the end of the day, that could have been the difference between us and them,” she added.
The right-handed batter Gardner contributed with excellent 31 off 18 balls with the bat, together with the Australian skipper took his side to the 141 run mark till she was in the crease.
Earlier, in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023, the Australian side won the toss and elected to bat first in the first semifinal, Meg Lanning-led side batted first and scored 172 runs for the loss of four wickets in 20 overs. Team India after the fighting effort by the middle-order batter, Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur’s batting efforts of 43 and 52 respectively, lost the game by five runs against arch-rivals- Australia.
England and South Africa will face each other for the second semifinal of the Women’s T20 World Cup on February 24th. The Australian side will face the winner of this match in the finals of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup on 26th February at Cape Town.