Harmanpreet Kaur's captain's knock and some excellent bowling and fielding on Sunday at Edgbaston were not enough for India to win the gold medal in the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Harmanpreet scored 65 runs off of 43 balls and created a 96-run third-wicket partnership with Jemimah Rodrigues.
But India's inability to recover from losing a flurry of wickets taken by Ashleigh Gardner and Megan Schutt meant they claimed the silver medal in their first appearance in the multi-nation games, falling to England at Lord's by the exact same score—nine runs.
In the 12-run first over, Shafali Verma started off by hitting Megan Schutt for a pair of boundaries. However, Smriti Mandhana's shuffle cost her the game in the following over when Darcie Brown uprooted her leg-stump. At the start of the third over, Shafali was then dropped by Ashleigh Gardner at cover. However, she miscued once again and was caught at mid-on on the fourth ball.
Before hitting three boundaries off Darcie in the last over of the powerplay, Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur took some time to get comfortable. Harmanpreet pushed over mid-wicket and scooped a drive down on one knee to penetrate past cover while Jemimah made space to slice over cover-point.
While Harmanpreet paddled for four and smoked a six down the ground to keep India afloat in the chase, Jemimah kept wowing with her beautiful off-side drives. Harmanpreet continued to be fascinated with leg-side boundaries as she swung, swiped, and flicked her way to fifty in just 34 balls.
Harmanpreet hit Alana for two more goals via the leg side after she reached her fifty. Jemimah increased the stakes by hitting Megan with a slog, but the pacer emerged victorious on the third ball when she uprooted the right hander's leg-stump.
Pooja Vastrakar holed out to deep mid-wicket off Ashleigh in the 16th over, and Harmanpreet soon fell when the edge of a deliberate scoop was collected by Alyssa Healy diving to her right. India was then close to winning, but was unable to cross the finish line, leaving Harmanpreet & Co. distraught once more as they lost their final eight wickets for 34 runs.
Earlier, Australia concluded at 161-8 thanks to a stunning comeback by India's bowlers in the final five overs. Apart from the 74-run partnership between Beth and the skipper, Meg Lanning, Australia was unable to escape since India only allowed 36 runs to be scored in the final five overs while taking five wickets.
India excelled at fielding, making excellent runs out and taking excellent catches and tight stops. Sneh Rana and Renuka Thakur both took two wickets with the ball, while Deepti Sharma and Radha Yadav each had one.
Nine runs, including an abrasive four from Alyssa, came off the opening two overs as Renuka and Meghna Singh increased the pressure on Australia. That worked wonders for India because a last-minute review revealed that Alyssa was caught lbw by an inswinger from Renuka in the third over while attempting to swipe across the line.
Meg blasted an easy six over long-off after nailing a drive through off-side as Australia reached 39-1 in the power-play, while Beth started off with boundaries through drive and flick. Before taking 17 runs off of Harmanpreet's opening over, Beth and Meg continued to alternate striking and scored sporadic boundaries, with the Australia captain hitting three fours off the Indian bowler.
However, Radha ended Meg's promising innings by capturing her just inches outside of her crease with a quick underarm throw to the non-end striker's as Beth pushed the ball back to the bowler. Tahlia McGrath, who was still competing after having tested positive for Covid-19, was easily outclassed as Radha dove full length to her left at backward point to grab spectacular catch of Deepti's bowling. Several boundaries had been made by Ashleigh, including a massive six over long on off Radha.
But Sneh tricked her with a flight and a loop, making Taniyaa Bhatia's job easy. Beth hit a delicious full toss over long-off to score her fifty. However, India kept claiming victims when Grace Harris flubbed a throw from Renuka to midfield.
Beth attempted to clear long-on off Sneh in the following over. But as she started to lose her balance, Deepti turned around and extended her right arm to finish the one-handed blinder.
Meghna made a superb catch at mid-wicket to send Alana King back, and Smriti's direct hit on Jess Jonassen resulted in her being caught short of her crease. Australia won with a score of 161-8, maintaining their winning streak.
Brief Scores: Australia 161-8 in 20 overs (Beth Mooney 61, Meg Lanning 36; Renuka Singh 2-25, Sneh Rana 2-38) beat India 152 all out in 19.3 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 65, Jemimah Rodrigues 33; Ashleigh Gardner 3-16, Megan Schutt 2-27) by nine runs