Women T20I World Cup 2020: Indian women T20I team has qualified for the Finals of the tournament as the semi-finals match against England was abandoned without even a single ball bowled at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday.
India who made it through to the knockouts after topping Group A with 4 victories in 4 matches that the team played. Though England had a better Net Run Rate (NRR) at +2.291 than India at +0.979 in the group stages, their loss against South Africa in their first group stage match proved to be fatal as it led them to win only 3 matches out of the 4 played.
Heather Knight, Captain of England team said, “Frustrating, didn’t want the World Cup to end this way but not much you can do about this. Would have been good to have a reserve day perhaps. That loss to South Africa cost us. Not really, we expected to reach the semi-finals and that we did. Undone by the weather,” after the match was called off.
Harmanpreet Kaur, the Indian captain said, “It is unfortunate not to get a game due to the weather. But that’s how the rules go. In future, it would be nice to have a reserve day. From day one, we knew that we have to win all the games because if in case we don’t get any play in the semifinals, it will be hard for us,” after the match was abandoned.
In the group stages, India defeated all the 4 team – Australia, Bangladesh, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka – with the help of some of the most excellent performances from Shafali Verma, Poonam Yadav, Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, and Rajeshwari Gaekwad.
Also Read: Shafali Verma Top ICC Ranking At Just 16Years Of Age, Breaks Record
The team in blue will now face the winners of the 2nd semi final that will be played between Australia and South Africa, which was to be played at the same venue from 1:30 PM (IST).
However, the weather forecast says that rain can be expected throughout the day, with this the fans are afraid that the match between Australia and South Africa could have the same fate as India vs England.
If this happens, then South Africa will go through to the finals of the Women’s T20I World Cup 2020 as they were the top ranking team in Group B. Under this scenario, it will be the first time even in Women’s T20I World Cup when the finalists will compete for a maiden world title in limited overs cricket.
The finale of the competition will take place on Sunday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground at 12:30 PM (IST). It is expected that over 90,000 fans will be present at the stadium for the match.
