India qualifies for the semifinals of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup by defeating Ireland in IND vs IRE match. India defeated Ireland by five runs in the Duckworth-Lewis method just because of the rain-barred match at Newlands Cricket Ground. The match was played on Monday, February 20 in South Africa.
India won the toss and then opted to bat first. India posted a 155 run for 6 wickets target. Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana hit a T20I career-best 87 off 56 balls. Ireland while chasing the target of 156 runs, was disturbed because of heavy rain. Meanwhile, Ireland was at a score of 54 runs for two in 8.2 overs.
The DLS par score after 8.2 overs came to be 59 and Ireland was just five runs short of the total. As the match wasn’t restarted after the heavy rains, India won the match and qualified for the semi-finals. Ireland’s opener Gaby Lewis scored 32 and was not out, off 25 balls.
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Highlights of the IND vs IRE women’s match
On a pitch that was way too far from ideal for batting and where many struggled to force the pace, Mandhana led an example. Smriti Mandhana scored nine 4’s and three 6’s to support India reach 155 run target for six wicket loss in the 20-over inning.
In the second innings, Ireland got off to a devastating start as opener Amy Hunter (1) was run out. This was just before Renuka Singh bowled out Orla Prendergast.
Stumbling at 2/1 in the very first over, Ireland recovered to reach 54 runs for two wickets in the ninth over. This was the time when the heavens opened up and sent the players inside. The game did not resume after that. When the game was disturbed, Gaby Lewis and Laura Delany were batting on 32 and 17 respectively. Ireland needed to score 102 runs in 70 balls when the rain barred the match. They were 5 runs behind the Duckworth par score of 59 runs. Eventually resulting in India’s victory and qualification for the semi-finals.
India will now play against defending champions Australia in the last four stage. This is India’s third consecutive semifinal appearance. This semi-final entry is following the ones from 2018 and 2020. In 2020, India ended its campaign as runner ups. The semi-final is on Thursday, 23rd February.
With winning IND vs IRE match, India bounced back from the 11-run defeat to England faced in their previous match.
Earlier, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (13) won the toss and India was off to a fine start. The opening partnership of Mandhana and Shafali Verma put on 62 runs under 10 overs at St George’s Park. But Shafali got out to Amy Hunter off the bowling of captain Delany. Delany introduced herself into the attack after the main bowlers failed to get the team an advance.
Harmanpreet joined Mandhana in the middle of the match, and the two hoped to build on a joint partnership. Playing shots turned out to be difficult as the surface appeared to be a bit on the slower side. In spite of the slow nature of the wicket, Mandhana maintained a brilliant strike rate. She reached her half-century in elegance, hitting leg-spinner Cara Murray for a fabulous six over deep mid-wicket.
Mandhana was lucky enough to have survived a scare just before getting to her fifty. Arlene Kelly could not complete the catch Mandhana’s shot after she top-edged a tossed-up ball from Murray towards the mid-wicket. Mandhana then struck two consecutive fours off Georgina Dempsey, just before sending Delany over the cow corner for another maximum run.
Ireland tried to get back with the wickets of Harmanpreet and Richa Ghosh in successive balls. Meanwhile Smriti Mandhana continued to attack the bowlers. She hit two more boundaries off Kelly balls, before giving the same reply to Delany. She striked Delany for a four and a six to support India progress towards 150.
A century was somewhere present on the cards, but Mandhana’s dynamic innings came to an end as she tried to take the aerial shot. Jemimah Rodrigues smashed two 4’s in the final over. Rodrigues went back after getting off in the last ball of the India’s innings for a 19 run score off 12 balls. In total Laura Delany took 3 huge wickets for Ireland. Meanwhile, Prendergast took 2 wickets of India’s important players.
Brief Scores in IND vs IRE match:
India: 155 runs at loss of 6 wickets in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 87; and Laura Delany 3/33, Orla Prendergast 2/22)
Ireland: 54 runs for 2 wickets in 8.2 overs of the rain interrupted match
TEAM INDIA’S SQUAD:
Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Richa Ghosh, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya, Radha Yadav, Anjali Sarvani, Renuka Thakur, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Shikha Pandey.
TEAM IRELAND’S SQUAD:
Laura Delany (c), Georgina Dempsey, Amy Hunter, Shauna Kavanagh, Arlene Kelly, Gaby Lewis, Louise Little, Sophie MacMahon, Jane Maguire, Cara Murray, Leah Paul, Orla Prendergast, Eimear Richardson, Rachel Delaney and Mary Waldron
ALSO READ: https://criccrunch.com/womens-cricket-world-cup-under-19-2023/
