Ind Vs Eng CWG 2022: India Seals Silver Medal In CWG 2022, Beating England By Four Runs In The Semi-finals
In the semi-final match, India defeated England by 4 runs. As a result, they will now participate in the gold medal match, thus ensuring a silver medal.
Sneh Rana bowled an excellent spell at the death. At a crucial juncture in the chase, Sciver, who had held the anchor down so well throughout the chase, erred at a critical time.
However, despite India’s sloppy fielding and bowling in the initial overs, Rana’s simple and effective bowling kept India a quarter of a run ahead of the hosts at the end of the game.
Ind Vs Eng CWG 2022: India Seals Silver Medal In CWG 2022, Beating England By Four Runs In The Semi-finals
Indian women’s cricket team secured a place in the final of the Commonwealth Games 2022 after their all-rounder Sneh Rana showed nerves of steel by choking runs in the death overs as they edged out host England by four runs on Saturday.
With England needing 165 runs to win, they were cruising along at 132 for three, as they needed 165 runs to win.
Offspinner Rana (4-0-28-2) bowled exceptionally well for the hosts who only needed 33 runs off 24 balls to win the match. In the 18th over, she gave away only three runs, and in the final over, she gave away nine runs.
There wasn’t much Hope for England even after a last-ball maximum from Sophie Ecclestone couldn’t save the day for the hosts, with Harmanpreet Kaur’s brigade avenging the defeat India suffered in the ODI World Cup final last year.
There is no doubt that Smriti Mandhana’s 32-ball-61 was a delight for the eyes, but Rana, India’s forever ‘MVP’, Deepti Sharma (4-0-18-1) and Pooja Vastrakar (3-0-20-0) did not err in line or length under pressure.
There wasn’t any doubt that the match had tipped decisively in favor of England when Harmanpreet introduced Shafali Verma, whose friendly “donkey drops” in the 16th over earned the home team 15 runs.
The 17th and 18th overs were bowled by Deepti and Rana, respectively, and they gave away only six runs respectively.
In the 19th over, Pooja bled 13 runs, but the Mandhana-Taniya Bhatia combination pulled off a brilliant run out of the dangerous Nat Sciver to turn the tide of the match.
After that, it was up to Rana to bowl at least five good balls in order to ensure that India came out with at least one medal in the inaugural edition of women’s cricket.
Prior to that, Mandhana’s elegant but brutal knock of 61, along with Jemimah Rodrigues’ useful 44 unbeaten in 20 overs, fired India to a healthy score of 164 for five in 20 overs.
In the PowerPlay, Mandhana, who is finally living up to her enormous potential, launched a 32-ball assault which laid the foundation for Rodrigues, who also improvised well during his 31-ball unbeaten stay at the crease, which helped him get to the goal.
She also recorded the fastest T20 International fifty in women’s cricket after only 23 balls in the course of her knock.
With a new and improved Deepti chipping in with 22 off 20 balls, India could think that it ended 15 runs short of the par-score after 64 runs came in the six PowerPlay overs.
The next 14 overs produced 100 runs as India lost the momentum when three wickets fell in quick succession during the middle overs, resulting in a loss of momentum.
The partnership between Rodrigues and Deepti for the fourth wicket added an invaluable 53 runs for the team.
The sublime drives of Mandhana are among the best in women’s cricket and one would have a hard time believing that the normally rampaging Shafali Verma (17 off 15 balls) would have been the silent partner during their opening stand of 76 runs in 7.5 overs.
Over the course of the game, Katherine Brunt hit cover drives, Issy Wong and Sciver pulled sixes, and spinner Sarah Glenn lofted a shot over long-on off her bowling.
As the England bowlers looked clueless during that phase of the match, the half-century came off only 23 deliveries.
In spite of a couple of 4s and a six in her run-a-ball 20, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur played quite a few dot balls in her run-a-ball run-up to the end when Sciver got rid of Mandhana, who was trying to play the lap-scoop.
The difference between Mandhana and Rodrigues in their knocks was that Mandhana had eight fours and three sixes in her knock, while Rodrigues had seven fours to her credit, mainly using the gaps between point and extra cover.