Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian Women’s team makes its way to semi-finals after beating Ireland Women’s team in the Group stage match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023. Even though the match was abandoned in the middle due to rain, India was declared the final winner using the Duckworth-Lewis method. Under the captainship of Harmanpreet Kaur, the team scored high runs and improved their chance of victory. The rain was bad luck for Ireland as it affected their chance of winning the game. With this game, Harmanpreet becomes the first Cricketer to play 150 T20 matches.
The captain who led the team to victory, Harmanpreet Kaur beats the record previously owned by Rohit Sharma with 148 T20 matches. She now is the Cricketer with the record of playing the most number of T20 matches. This indeed is a great achievement for her as it requires an extreme level of skills and leadership for getting the opportunity to play this many cricket matches. The thing to be noted is that she is not just the first women Cricketer to play the highest number of T20 matches but she is also number one among both men’s and women’s Cricket teams.
With the Duckworth Lewis method, India beats Ireland in ICC Women’s T20 World Cup by 5 runs to move on to the semi-finals. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the match was abandoned in the middle and this was a further hit for Ireland as it further depleted their chance of success.
Smriti Mandhana showed a stunning performance in the match as she scored 87 runs off 56 balls. She won the title of player of the match due to her stellar performance on the pitch. She mentioned that this pace of bowling is not something she has been accustomed to, and the timing of hitting the ball suffered some consequences due to that. She said that this is one of the toughest innings she has ever played. Despite having an injury, she still scored at her level best. Initially, the wind also made it difficult for the batting team and it affected the whole match.
Ireland Captain Laura Delany said that rain was an unexpected hit for the team, although there was wind, they weren’t quite expecting the rain. They were attempting to build a proper stand and things were going quite well till the rain.
The rain started pouring down by 9:56 and we could say that it was a bad time for Ireland. The team was just getting a hold of the match when the rain started. Ireland’s team lost two wickets at the beginning itself and also they could only score one run in the first over. Gabby Lewis and Laura Delany were trying to increase the team’s score when the rain started pouring. The bowling team of Ireland could also have done a better job. If only they have restricted India from scoring many runs in the beginning, the results would have been completely different.
The women in blue make their way to the semifinals after beating Ireland’s women’s Cricket team. Indian Women’s team has been showing consistent performance in the Group stage and this is their third win in the stage. The one match they lost on the stage was against England. England will now play their last match in the Group stage with Pakistan to continue to be the table toppers of the big event.
Ireland women lost all the matches they played in the Group stage and now going back home. If Pakistan women lose the game against England today, they will also accompany Ireland to go out of the tournament.
