Women's T20I WC: Ind loses to Aus for 5 runs; bows out post semis

Cape Town: Giving a 5-run victory to Australian women, Indian women bowed out of the ICC Women's T20I World Cup tournament at the semis at the Newlands Cricket Ground here on Thursday.

After Australia put a grand total of 172/4, India put in an excellent counterattack after a slow start, through Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues but in vain.

Indian side exhibited sloppy fielding against a strong Australia. They dropped two crucial catches and conceded 61 runs in the final five overs of the Australian innings. When Jemimah gave an edge and was caught behind by the keeper, Harmanpreet, who was in good form, got run out at the 15th over when her bat got stuck while trying to reach the crease.

During the chase, Indian top 3 batters scored a cumulative 15 runs only. But Jemimah and Harmanpreet came later and made a 69-run partnership out of 41 balls, rising to the occasion. Harmanpreet scored 52 off 34, while Jemimah 43 off 24, each scoring six boundaries too. Harmanpreet had the nerve to fire an 'over the fences' too at the considerably large boundaries. The duo made a good effort to take India to the finishing line. They showed the intent to rotate the strike and tried their best to score on every delivery.

Australia was good with fielding in the final overs. Ellyse Perry made an excellent dive to save a boundary in the 19 over. Sneh Rana got cleaned and bowled in the same over. Though Deepti Sharma scored a boundary on the last ball, it wasn't enough for the Women-in-blue.

Brief scores: Australia 172/4 in 20 overs (Beth Mooney 53, Meg Lanning 49 not out; Shikha Pandey 2-32, Deepti Sharma 1-30) beat India 167/8 in 20 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 52, Jemimah Rodrigues 43; Darcie Brown 2-18, Ashleigh Gardner 2-37) by five runs