Australian captain Meg Lanning admitted that Australia got a little lucky with the Harmanpreet Kaur dismissal in their crucial five-run win over India in the semi-final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Cape Town on Thursday.
The Indian captain was ill one day before the semi-final. There were doubts whether she would actually play in the game at all. But she shrugged off the illness and led from the front with the bat after the Australians set them a target of 173.
She scored 52 runs off 34 balls before her bat got stuck while she was taking a run. This was in the 15th over with India at 133. She had joined hands with Jemimah Rodrigues to score a 69-run fourth-wicket to give India a fighting chance.
“It was a tense finish. One of the best wins I’ve been involved in, to fight back after not playing the best cricket in all three facets. We missed our lengths and gave some width. India came hard at us, so we knew this score would have been hard to defend. But we pulled through in the clutch moments. We got nervous a couple of times. But we knew playing against these guys, that you need to stay in the game to get over the line. Kaur was unfortunate. I think we are able to stay calm and composed, we didn’t panic even when we weren’t bowling well. These are the kind of games we want to win. Can’t wait to get here for the final,” said Australia captain Lanning.
Australia reached their seventh successive T20 World Cup final.