Gardner’s Unbeaten (52 off 35 balls) turned the game and Australia won the match by 3 wickets and 6 ball
Skipper Harmanpreet’s (52 ) brilliant half century went into vain
(Harmanpreet brilliat shots and half-century)
(Harmanpreet brilliat shots and half-century)
India has ended the day one of Birmingham Common Wealth Games (CWG-2022) at a happy note, but The Indian woman cricket team fail to win the first battle against Australia as Cricket debut in the CWG in T20 Format. Indian Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur completed her brilliant half-century (52 off 34 balls) and Shafali Verma scored (48 off 33 balls) very near to half-century, but both of champion batter’s stormy performance went into vain as Australia won the match by 3 wickets in the Edgbaston ground on Friday. Ashleigh Gardner (52 off 35 balls; 9 fours not out) turned the game into Australia favour as she came to bat on 6th number in second inning.
India won the toss and decided to bat first. The Indian vice-captain Smriti Mandhana came to bat with Shafali verma as opening pair. Both scored 25 as partnership for first wicket and Mandhana was catch out scoring 24 off 17 balls including 5 smart fours. Then after Mandhana, Yastika Bhatia joined the Shafali and could not perform good she played 12 balls and run out on 8 score. Indian inning stapled a little bit losing the above two wickets, but Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur handled the inning with Shafali and took their partnership from 68 to 93 score as Shafali was catch out on 48 of her total score. Harmanpreet was continue in form till 7th wicket loss for team. She completed her brilliant half century (52 off 34 balls; 8 fours, 1 six), Jemimah Rodrigues scored 11 off 12 balls. India has given a target 154/8 in 20 overs for Australia after first inning.
Australian Start was very bad as they lost 3 wickets on 21 score of team in 2.5 overs. But Australian middle batter Ashleigh Gardner’s unbeaten 52 turned the game into winning side. She came on 6th number and showed stormy batting. Gardner hit 9 fours in her inning and scored 52 off 35 balls with 148.57 run rate. She became the hero of the game. Grace Harris (37 off 20 balls, 5 fours, 2 sixes, 185 run rate) and Alana King (unbeaten 18 off 16 balls, 3 fours) played pivotal role in winning. Renuka Singh Showed her stardom, she picked four wickets 4/18 in four overs. Deepti Sharma also succeed to take 2/24 wickets in four overs. Meghna Singh picked 1/38 wicket in four overs.
According to BCCI TV, Harmanpreet completed her 7th 50 in T20Is during the match. She also made a record in CWG-2022 as first half century in Cricket Debut.
Harmanpreet
Congratulation to Australia team for the opening win. It was our first game and we turned to lose in the mid of second inning, but Team India will look to bounce back in the next games
Brief Score Board:
IND- 154/8 in 20 ov.
AUS- 157/7 in 19 ov. (Won by 3 wickets and 1 ov left)
(Renuka Thakur picked the wicket)
(harmanpreet 7th 50)
Read Also: CWG-2022: Hockey captain Manpreet Singh announced as India’s flag bearer along with PV Sindhu
