The Indian women’s cricket team entered the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022 semifinals in style with a huge 100-run demolition of Barbados in their final Group A encounter on Wednesday. India thus join Australia, England and New Zealand in the last four stage. (More Cricket News)
Baring the early wicket of Smriti Mandhana, everything went wrong for Barbados women that has West Indie stars like Hayley Matthews and Deandra Dottin among the notable ones. Despite Mandhana’s early dismissal, Shafali Verma kept the pressure on opposition with a fluent 26-ball 43 at the top of the order.
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However, Barbados came back into the match with two quick wickets of Verma and captain Harmanpreet Kaur but an enterprising late partnership between Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma took India to 162/4 in 20 overs.
While Jemimah remained unbeaten on 46-ball 56, Deepti played the anchors role with a 28-ball 34. In reply, Barbados were never really in the chase, thanks to Renuka Singh’s four-wicket burst in the powerplay.
She removed Deandra Dottin, Hayley Matthews, Kycia Knight and Aaliyah Alleyne to leave Barbados at 19 for 4 in the fifth over. From there Barbados never came back in the game. Kyshona Knight top scored with 16 while No.9 Shakera Selman was the only other batter to score double digits.
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While Australia go into semifinals as group winners, India advanced into the last four as the second-best side. However, their opponents in the knockouts are yet to be finalised as both England and New Zealand have a game left in their group.
New Zealand face England in their final Group B game and the winner will play India in the semifinals.
Brief scores: India Women 162-4 in 20 overs (Shafali Verma 43, Jemimiah Rodrigues 56 Not Out, Deepti Sharma 34 Not Out) beat Barbados Women 62/8 in 20 overs (Renuka Singh 4-10) by 100 runs.
