Mithali Raj & Co.’s dream of putting up a good show in front of home fans came to an agonising end, as they lost to the West Indies by three runs in their ICC World T20 women’s match here on Sunday af
Mithali Raj & Co.’s dream of putting up a good show in front of home fans came to an agonising end, as they lost to the West Indies by three runs in their ICC World T20 women’s match here on Sunday afternoon.
Semi-finalists in 2009 and 2010, India were hoping to be third time lucky and came up with a gutsy show as they matched their formidable opponents in every department.
The result ensured the West Indies’ entry into the last four as India were eliminated.
Set a tricky target of 115, after Stafenie Taylor (47) and Deandra Dottin (45, 3/16) had put the West Indies in a strong position, India needed to display calm nerves and doggedness.
Skipper Raj, who on match eve had stressed that senior players will have to play a significant role, was dismissed on the very delivery of the Indian innings in what was a sign of things to come.
Reeling at 39/3 in nine overs, the contest seemed to be out of their reach but the lower order decided to take the fight to the end. Anuja Patil (26) and Jhulan Goswami (25) raised hopes before it all came down to the hosts needing 20 runs from the last 12 balls.
Dottin turned things around for the Caribbean side picking up two wickets in the final over as India fell three runs short.
Earlier, the West Indies survived early hiccups — they were 26/3 in seven overs — before Taylor and Dottin’s fourth-wicket partnership of 77 (65 balls) took them to 114/8.
Harmanpreet Kaur was effective with 4/23 while Patil took 3/16.
The Indian skipper Mithali said, “It is disappointing, three close games. In crucial moments, there have been slip-ups. The girls need to make on the metal make-up and try to make things simple.”
Scoreboard West Indies: H. Matthews b Bisht 6, S. Taylor c Patil b Kaur 47, K. Knight lbw b Patil 0, S. Quintyne b Patil 4, D. Dottin c Krishnamurthy b Kaur 45, S. King b Patil 2, S. Campbelle c & b Kaur 1, M. Aguilleira (not out) 5, S. Connell b Kaur 0. Extras: (lb1, w3) 4. Total: (for 8 wkts, in 20 overs) 114. FoW: 1-16, 2-17, 3-26, 4-103, 5-107, 6-109, 7-109, 8-114. Bowling: Goswami 2-0-13-0, Bisht 4-1-12-1, Patil 4-0-16-3, Poonam 4-0-24-0, Gayakwad 3-0-25-0, Kaur 3-0-23-4.
India: M. Raj c Aguilleira b Connell 0, S. Mandhana b Fletcher 22, V. Krishnamurthy c King b Dottin 18, H. Kaur c Kyshona b Fletcher 7, A. Patil lbw b Quintyne 26, J. Goswami (run out) 25, S. Pandey (run out) 6, E. Bisht b Dottin 1, S. Verma c Taylor b Dottin 1, P. Yadav (not out) 1, R. Gayakwad (not out) 0. Extras: (w4) 4. Total: (for 9 wkts, in 20 overs) 111. FoW: 1-1, 2-22, 3-39, 4-62, 5-93, 6-104, 7-105, 8-110, 9-110. Bowling: Connell 4-1-15-1, Taylor 2-0-23-0, Dottin 4-0-16-3, Mohammed 3-0-23-0, Fletcher 4-0-15-2, Quintyne 3-0-19-1.
