London: Ellyse Perry oozed class and Ashleigh Gardner was all muscle as Australia notched up a smooth six-wicket win to knock an underwhelming India out of the ICC T20 Women’s World Cup in London Sunday. The defeat could well mean the end of Harmanpreet Kaur’s time as India’s T20 skipper.
Perry (56, 38b), who is playing her 10th World Cup, and Gardner (53 not out, 29b) added 100 runs for the fourth wicket as the six-time champions chased down 171 in 19 overs to enter the semifinals.
The Aussies (10 points) topped Group 1 with an all-win record, while 50-over champions India ended third with six points.
South Africa also progressed to the last four with eight points after they defeated Bangladesh by four wickets earlier in the day.
However, the Aussies were staring at the wrong end of the barrel at 68 for three in 9.1 overs after the Indian bowlers dislodged openers Phoebe Litchfield, Georgia Voll and veteran Beth Mooney for precious little.
Voll, in fact, fell in the first over itself, failing to negotiate Renuka Singh delivery that jagged back sharply.
But thereafter, Perry and Gardner took apart the Indian bowlers with ease. They summoned years of vast experience to pick their bowlers and spots on the field to amass runs without taking undue risks.
Gardner punished left-arm spinner Sree Charani and Shafali Verma for sixes, while Perry was more subtle in her ways.
The 35-year-old pulled and cut Sree Charani, Shafali and Deepti Sharma with ease and her knock was studded with eight fours.
But the effect was the same as Perry reached her fifty in 33 balls and Gardner in four balls less.
Perry fell to Sree Charani, this tournament’s highest wicket-taker, eventually but by then the Aussies had their one foot on the shores.
Earlier, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur made a quick 56 off 27 balls but rest of the line-up struggled for acceleration as India posted a slightly under par 170 for four, perfectly mirroring their batting group’s struggle all along this ICC showpiece.
India did start well through openers Smriti Mandhana (38) and Shafali Verma (34), who added 66 runs but safety appeared their first concern rather than scoring fast as the run-rate never really went above 7.
There were occasional flares of aggression like Shafali’s two sixes off off-spinner Ashleigh Gardner or Mandhana’s successive fours off pacer Kim Garth.
India finished the power play at a rather fine 43 for no loss, but could have really stepped on the gas from that point. Shafali understood the need to change the gear, but her attempt to carve Australian skipper Sophie Molineux brought in disastrous results.
The right-hander lost her balance, as the ball crashed onto her off-stump.
Mandhana too did not last long as a terrible mix-up with Jemimah Rodrigues (34, 28b) left her stranded in the middle of the pitch, as Georgia Wareham’s throw from deep reached bowler Lucy Hamilton accurately.
Rodrigues started with a four off Molineux but could not maintain the same tempo for the rest of her innings. She was even dropped on 27, which went for a six, off pacer Annabel Sutherland in the deep and in the very next ball on 33.
But she was retired out before the final over to give a chance to big-hitting Richa Ghosh, though she faced just one ball.
But Harmanpreet was quite fluent during her stay, exploiting the gentler pace of Wareham and Molineux for some quick runs.
The skipper, who reached fifty in 26 balls, flayed her Aussie counterpart for three sixes in a row in the final over, which yielded 23 runs, as India reached 170.
