Women’s World Cup: India beat Australia to set up final against England
Women’s World Cup: India beat Australia to set up final against England: Harmanpreet Kaur’s stunning century helped India beat six-time champions Australia by 36 runs in Derby and reach the Women’s World Cup final. Kaur smashed an unbeaten 171 – the highest score by an India player at a World Cup – as they made 281-4 from their rain-reduced 42 overs.
A big-hitting cameo from Alex Blackwell (90) gave Australia hope but they were bowled out for 245 with 11 balls left.
Mithali Raj’s side will face England in Sunday’s sold-out final at Lords.
Kaur’s powerful hitting, which included 20 boundaries and seven sixes, put the defending champions under pressure as India struck 81 runs from the final six overs.
Australia were nine wickets down and still 113 runs behind when Blackwell began to hit out.
Her aggressive innings, the vice-captain striking 10 boundaries and three sixes, took Australia to within touching distance of reaching their ninth World Cup final.
It is the first time India have reached a World Cup final since 2005 in South Africa, where they lost to Australia by 98 runs.
After a three-hour delay and faced with a miserly Australia bowling attack, Kaur looked stuck until Raj was dismissed by leg-spinner Kristen Beams for 36.
Once Raj fell, Kaur found her feet, targeting the Australian spinners and the off-target pace of Megan Schutt as she moved from 50 to three figures in just 26 deliveries.
Kaur’s century was marred by her own over-reaction when, on 98, she called partner Deepti Sharma through for a quick two. Kaur turned quicker than Sharma and both players were briefly stranded mid-pitch, before the throw from mid-wicket hit Sharma’s stumps.
A review showed that Sharma was in, but Kaur had already thrown her helmet and bat away in frustration and was yelling at her partner as it was confirmed she had reached three figures.
An embarrassed Kaur apologised to Sharma, who was near tears, and later put all her frustration into consecutive towering sixes off off-spinner Ashleigh Gardner as she plundered 23 runs from one over.
Despite losing Sharma towards the end of the innings, Kaur barely let up, taking 19 runs from one Elyse Villani over despite clearly struggling with cramp.
She raced from 100 to 150 in just 17 deliveries as she made the fifth highest score in women’s ODIs and left Australia looking uncertain.
———————————————————————————————-
Watch your favorite programs, documentaries, informative packages and latest NEWS(English and Urdu).
Watch Humsub tv Live Streaming here: Humsub.tv
Read English Latest Articles and News here: Humsub
Read Urdu Latest News and Articles here: Urdu News
———————————————————————————————-