Australia and South Africa’s women’s cricket teams have qualified for the Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 semifinal from Group A. The 6-time champions went through to the next stage after the India women’s cricket team posted 170 on the board in the last league-stage match of the tournament.
To decide the fourth and last semifinalists, the match had to end. If India won, they’d go through, and if Australia won, South Africa would qualify. The Women in Blue started well with the ball and sent Georgia Voll back on the second delivery of the innings.
Poor usage of bowlers
Australia managed to end the powerplay strongly (49/1), and India wrestled control back in the next few overs as Phoebe Litchfield and Beth Mooney both departed. Now was the chance. Australia were 68/3 in 9.1 overs. Sree Charana had bowled two overs for 10/1.
So, what did India and Harmanpreet Kaur do? Hand the ball to Radha Yadav and Shafali Verma in the next two overs. Both Ellyse Perry and Ash Gardner got set and smashed Radha for 17 runs in the 13th over. Deepti was handed the ball back in the 14th over and Charani in the 15th. But the game was gone.
Why Kranti Gaud over Nandni Sharm?
Perry and Gardner took even Charani on and kept on smashing whoever came next. In the end, Australia won with 6 wickets in hand and 6 balls to spare. Kranti Gaud, India’s frontline fast bowler, delivered just one over in the innings. Which begs the question, why was she even picked over Nandni Sharma?
Why persist with Yastika Bhatia?
Couldn’t India have backed the others to bowl 20 overs and picked a batter instead? The game wasn’t just lost due to woeful tactics before and during the match. Pre-game, one wondered why Yastika Bhatia was playing ahead of Bharti Fulmali, and it was apparent that India missed her power as the management didn’t even send Yastika to bat.
As mentioned above, Gaud came for Nandni and bowled 1 over. On the batting front, the decision to promote Jemimah Rodrigues over Harmanpreet and not send Richa Ghosh until the 20th over was just baffling. Alongside Shafali, they are the best power hitters, and Richa faced just 1 ball.
Same errors, over & over again
It was a game riddled with poor performances and shoddy tactics. Knowing wickets will win you the match and holding Radha and Deepti back doesn’t make sense. Using your best hitter, Richa, doesn’t make sense. It’s time to hold Harmanpreet and head coach Amol Mazumdar accountable for these decisions.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t even the first. The same has been happening for a few months now, and India has been sleeping behind the wheel, failing to adapt. If you are handily outplayed by the two best teams in your group, you don’t deserve to go through the next round.
