Team India made a grand entry into the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup by emerging victorious against defending champions Australia, with a smooth 17-run win on Friday.
The Indian team seemed distraught with their performance with the bat as they managed a below par score of just about 132. Deepti Sharma managed to strike 49 off 36 balls, while Shafali Verma managed only 29 runs before being dismissed by Ellyse Perry.
Australia managed a sturdy start with the bat to their 132-run chase with opener Alyssa Healy striking 51 runs off of 35 balls, with six boundaries and a six.
However Indian spinners including Poonam Yadav put a dampener to their run scoring spree with the fall of the sixth wicket for a meagre 82.
Poonam (4/19) managed to claim four wickets, narrowly missing the probability of a hat-trick with two wickets in successive deliveries in the 12th over, that left Australia devastated for the rest of the game. Lack of a strong partnership left Ashleigh Gardner’s (34 off 36) score in vain.
However, team India compensated for the subpar score with an exceptional performance in bowling and fielding. Leg spinner Poonam Yadav turned the tides through her meticulous bowling that left the Australian line-up fazed. Australia, who previously had won the competition 4 out of the total 6 editions, were all dismissed for 115 runs in 19.5 overs of the 20-over match.
“A bowler like Poonam is someone who leads from the front. We were expecting a great comeback from her. Our team is looking nice, earlier we depended on two or three players,” said India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, post match.
Yadav had missed the preceding tri-series owing to a hand injury, and received good support from other bowlers on the pitch including pacer Shikha Pandey.
“It was great for me to come back from injury and perform like this. It was the third time that I was on a hat-trick but satisfied that I was able to do the job for the team”, said Poonam.
Team India opens the tournament in the most grandiose manner possible. Whether or not they will be crowned victors, they are certain to make the tournament worth the while.
Poonam Yadav in the press conference after the match
