Kim Cotton (New Zealand), Sue Redfern (England), Jacqueline Williams (West Indies, TV)
Referee
Shandre Fritz (South Africa)
Toss
Australia Women elected to bat
Pitch Report
The weather plays an important, it's hot and hopefully gets slightly cooler later in the evening. 73m, the straighter hit is the bigger part of the ground. Not much of grass on it, it's drier, the spinners will get some turn but bounce will be a concern and they need to target the stumps. Batters need to play sensibly, can't play across the line and won't be much boundaries scored. Australia should target to get to 140 plus here.
Experts are creating their teams, watch this space
Venue Details
Sharjah Cricket Stadium
The weather plays an important, it's hot and hopefully gets slightly cooler later in the evening. 73m, the straighter hit is the bigger part of the ground. Not much of grass on it, it's drier, the spinners will get some turn but bounce will be a concern and they need to target the stumps. Batters need to play sensibly, can't play across the line and won't be much boundaries scored. Australia should target to get to 140 plus here.
The commentary is not available for this match. Please check the scorecard for latest updates.
9:55 pm local time (11:25 pm IST): So that will be all from Sharjah after an absorbing game of T20 cricket! But now, the action shifts to Dubai with New Zealand Women taking on Pakistan Women at 6:00 pm local time (7:30 pm IST) tomorrow to decide which other team from Group A joins Australia Women in the semi-finals. If the White Ferns win, they go through. But if they lose, due to India Women's net run rate being better at the moment, Harmanpreet Kaur's girls will qualify! So, there is plenty to play for! For now, this is the pair of Pradeep and Bidipto taking your leave. Keep following Sportskeeda!
Smriti Mandhana needed to get going tonight and Australia knew it. So they turned to Sophie Molineux and her new-found faster left-arm spin-bowling did the trick! Check out the dismissal all over again.
Tahlia McGrath (Australia Women captain): We want to win every game we play, but we know that India will provide a lot of tough challenges. They ran us close, but we held our nerve in the end. The pitch wasn't all that easy for batting, it was holding a bit too, so those few runs towards the end from us helped. When it got tough towards the end of the bowling innings, I turned to Ellyse Perry and picked her cricket brain. She has a tremendous understanding of the game and her inputs are always top notch! We are happy that we have qualified now, we will take some time off in Dubai and then, get back on and going!
Harmanpreet Kaur [India captain]: I think, their entire team contributed, they didn't depend one or two players, they know they have lot of all-rounders. According to situation, their players step up and deliver, we planned the same way too. We were there in the game till the last over, but they were a livewire in the field. Not in our control, you always have to keep the XI ready even though one ore the other player misses. Radha was ready, she was brilliant in the field and you need a character like that. We assess the wicket very well, we thought it was a gettable total. When me and Deepti were batting, couldn't utilize few loose balls, we have a lot to learn from Australia from a lot of things. Whatever in our hand, we tried but whoever deserves have to be there, will be there.
Sophie Molineux is the Player of the Match! Here's what she has to say: It's a good game, India came hard at us, quality game of cricket which went down the wire, we held on to our nerves. It was pretty similar, needed to stay calm ad all the senior players stepped up. Just went back to the basics at the crucial junctures of the game. Needed bounce back after those injuries in the team. It was very loud, felt like it was one-sided. It's massive, any game against India, you mark it down in the calendar that it's going to be a tough, but everyone chipped in and that's a massive take away for us.
An India-Australia clash in a T20 World Cup promises something special and this match had another pulsating see-saw of events! But, a score in excess of 150 was good enough for the defending champions in the end. Harmanpreet Kaur tried her best, she got some help from Deepti Sharma along the way, but it wasn't enough in the end from an Indian point of view.
The innings began well for India, with Shafali Verma taking the attack to the bowlers. But her stay at the crease was short-lived. Jemimah Rodrigues too took it on and looked the part, but ended up finding deep square-leg perfectly.
The Harmanpreet-Deepti partnership took some time to take off, but when it did, brought the mate very much towards India. When Deepti went, Harmanpreet exploded, much to the delight of the Indian fans! Pooja Vastrakar also threatened Australia and with 14 runs remaining to get off the last over, it was anyone's game really!
But Annabel Sutherland held her nerves and produced a clutch final over to win it for her team! Harmanpreet Kaur got to face only a couple of deliveries in that over, and that didn't do matters any good.
Australia, without their star player and captain Alyssa Healy, were able to get over the line in this one and book a spot in the semi-finals! As for India, it's all about tomorrow's match between Pakistan and New Zealand. It's simple, if New Zealand win, they go through. If the White Ferns lose, the women in blue progress!
20
overs
142/9score
1
W
W
1
w
W
1
runs
Renuka Thakur*
1(1)
Harmanpreet Kaur
54(47)
Annabel Sutherland
2/22
19.6 Annabel Sutherland to Renuka Thakur, AUSTRALIA MAKE IT FOUR IN FOUR! Australia remain unbeaten in the tournament, they've already qualified but India have to wait for the result of the game coming up tomorrow. Back of a length on the middle and leg, Renuka swipes it behind square on the on-side for one.
Renuka Thakur, RHB, is at the crease to face the final ball of the match, and maybe, the final ball of the tournament for India, who knows!
19.5 Annabel Sutherland to Radha Yadav, OUT! BIG APPEALS FOR LBW, GIVEN! Top class final over from Sutherland. Length delivery on the stumps, Radha swings across the line and misses, raps on the pad and that is stone-dead! But, Radha reviews it!
Clear gap between bat and ball. Ball tracking coming up, shows THREE REDS, crashing into middle, cannot get more plumb than that!
Radha Yadav lbw b Annabel Sutherland 0 (1b, 0x4, 0x6)
Radha Yadav, RHB, is at the crease.
So now, a six and a four, or a four and a six, gives us a Super Over!
19.5 Annabel Sutherland to Shreyanka Patil, RUN-OUT! WIDE! Loses the radar Sutherland, sprays it way down the leg-side. Patil was ball watching, saw Kaur was running towards the striker's end. Mooney runs and flicks the bails off and appeals for a run-out.
TV umpire confirms from the replays that, there wasn't any part of the boot inside the crease and signals OUT on the big screen!
Shreyanka Patil run out (Beth Mooney) 0 (0b, 0x4, 0x6)
19.4 Annabel Sutherland to Harmanpreet Kaur, OH! Can't get it through, Kaur takes the single. Full on the stumps, Kaur backs away and looks to thrash it through the gap at extra-cover but gets no timing on it.
Shreyanka Patil, RHB, is at the non-striker's end.
Well, at least Harmanpreet Kaur is back on strike, from an Indian perspective.
19.3 Annabel Sutherland to Arundhati Reddy, RUN-OUT! Reddy sacrifices her wicket trying to get Kaur back on strike. Length delivery on the middle and leg, Reddy drives it straight to extra-cover and had to run. Litchfield with a brilliant throw near the stumps. Sutherland collects and whips the bails off.
Arundhati Reddy run out (Phoebe Litchfield/Annabel Sutherland) 0 (1b, 0x4, 0x6)
Arundhati Reddy, RHB, is at the crease.
The fielding penalty has been imposed on Australia. But it does not matter, because we have a dot ball!
19.2 Annabel Sutherland to Pooja Vastrakar, OUT! KNOCKED OVER! A dot ball more importantly. Full toss, angled in on the leg-stump. Vastrakar makes room with a big swing and a miss, through to rattle the leg-stump. Kaur is stuck at the non-striker's end!
Pooja Vastrakar b Annabel Sutherland 9 (6b, 1x4, 0x6)
19.1 Annabel Sutherland to Harmanpreet Kaur, length delivery, follows the batter as Kaur backs away, swings and mistimes it to long-on for one.
Annabel Sutherland [3.0-0-18-0] comes back into the attack.
Alright, the final over of the innings is upon us now! India need to start this off well. At least one boundary in the first three balls is a must, if not two! Harmanpreet will be on strike, which is a plus for them.
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Renuka Thakur
*
Annabel Sutherland
Video
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Sharjah Cricket Stadium
![[Watch] Smriti Mandhana trapped LBW by Sophie Molineux for 6 runs in IND vs AUS 2024 Women's T20 World Cup clash](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2024/10/91fea-17288375453229-1920.jpg)
