CWG Semifinal: Elegant Smriti, Brilliant Rana take India to last

All-rounder Sneh Rana confirmed nerves of metal by choking runs in demise overs as Indian girls’s cricket staff pipped hosts England by 4 runs to enter the ultimate of the Commonwealth Games on Saturday.Needing 165 to win, England had been cruising alongside at 132 for 3.

The hosts required solely 33 runs off 24 balls however off-spinner Rana (4-0-28-2) bowled extraordinarily properly. She gave away solely 3 runs within the 18th and 9 runs within the last over. England completed at 160 for six and even a last-ball most from Sophie Ecclestone couldn’t save the day for the hosts with Harmanpreet Kaur’s brigade incomes a candy revenge of the 2017 ODI World Cup last defeat on the Lord’s.

If Smriti Mandhana’s 32-ball-61 was a deal with for the eyes, Rana, India’s endlessly ‘MVP’, Deepti Sharma (4-0-18-1) and Pooja Vastrakar (3-0-20-0) didn’t err in line or size underneath strain.

The match appeared to have decisively tilted in favour of England when Harmanpreet launched Shafali Verma, whose pleasant “donkey drops” within the sixteenth over fetching the house staff 15 runs. But Deepti and Rana collectively gave away solely six runs within the seventeenth and 18th over respectively.Pooja leaked 13 runs within the nineteenth over however the Mandhana-Taniya Bhatia mixture pulled off a superb run out of the damaging Nat Sciver to alter the course.

It was then left to Rana to bowl no less than 5 good balls that assured a medal for India within the inaugural version of girls’s cricket.

BOWLED THE HOST 😍😍#StaffIndia 🇮🇳 🏏 reaches the FINAL for the first time within the historical past of Cricket at #Commonwealth Games 🔥🔥

Debut of Women’s Cricket at #CWG2022 and our Champions prepared the ground to Victory en route defeating the hosts England by 4️⃣ Runs

Fantastic effort 👌 pic.twitter.com/doOovwExqD

— SAI Media (@Media_SAI) August 6, 2022

Earlier Mandhana’s elegant but brutal knock of 61 together with Jemimah Rodrigues’ helpful 44 not out powered India to a wholesome 164 for five in 20 overs.Mandhana’s 32-ball assault within the Powerplay laid the platform whereas Rodrigues, who’s lastly doing justice to her monumental potential, improvised properly throughout his 31-ball unbeaten keep on the crease.

En route her knock, Mandhana additionally recorded the quickest T20 International fifty in girls’s cricket off solely 23 balls.A brand new and improved Deepti chipped in with 22 off 20 balls however India would possibly assume they ended 15 runs in need of the par-score after 64 runs got here within the six Powerplay overs.The subsequent 14 overs yielded 100 runs as India misplaced the momentum when three wickets fell in fast succession throughout center overs.

Rodrigues and Deepti added a useful 53 runs for the fourth wicket partnership.Mandhana’s drives are essentially the most beautiful in girls’s cricket and one would rub his eyes in disbelief when the usually rampaging Shafali Verma (17 off 15 balls) was the silent accomplice of their opening stand of 76 in 7.5 overs.

There had been cowl drives off Katherine Brunt, pulled sixes off seamers Sciver an Issy Wong and a lofted one off spinner Sarah Glenn’s bowling over long-on.The half-century got here in solely 23 balls as England bowlers regarded clueless throughout that part.

Once Sciver removed Mandhana, who was attempting to play the lap-scoop, the run-rate slowed down as skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, regardless of a few fours and a six, performed few dot balls in her run-a-ball 20.

While Mandhana had eight fours and three sixes in her knock, Rodrigues had seven fours to her credit score, largely utilizing the gaps in arc between level and extra-cover