India to face Australia in Women’s World T20 final after gaining direct entry following washout

Tags: World T20, India, Australia, Final

Published on: Mar 06, 2020

The Indian women's cricket team entered the World T20 final on Thursday after rain washed out their semi-final clash against England at Sydney. India made it to the final as they ended on top of their group with four wins in as many games.

After the all-important game was washed out, India captain Harmanpreet Kaur opined that the semifinals should have had a reserve day. "Unfortunate we didn't get a game, but there are rules and we have to follow it. Having reserve days in the future will be a great idea," said Kaur.

Kaur, however, admitted that the team were keen on topping the group as they were well aware of the situation that would arise in case of rain in the semi-finals. India began the tournament with a win against Australia before defeating Bangladesh, New Zealand and Sri Lanka to finish first in their group.

"We knew from day one when we were going to start this tournament that we would have to win all the games, because if we don't get a match because of any condition, then whoever is at the top in the league, that team is going to play the final. And that's how we started," the skipper revealed.

A gutted England captain Heather Knight, on the other hand, said they were focussed on winning all matches as they had no control over the weather. However, she hoped that England’s unfortunate exit without playing in the semi-final leads to a change in rules.

"They're the rules that everyone signed up to. You'd hope now that there has been this situation and the game tonight is potentially going to be rained off as well, so you'd hope now there is going to be a rule change and moving forward, no other team will have to experience going out of a World Cup purely because of rain. Hopefully it changes,” she candidly stated.

"It's gutting. You put in a lot of hard work. There's not a lot we can do about it. We're just going to have to rue that first game and try to move on but it's going to be a bitter pill to swallow for a few of us now," Knight further said.

Trying her best to make light of the tough situation, the England captain added, "Harman must have got a crystal ball out. I'll have to borrow that from her for the next tournament."

India will now take on defending champions Australia, who beat South Africa by five runs in the other rain-hit semi-final on the Duckworth/Lewis Method. Australia batted first and put up 134 for 5 in their 20 overs following a delayed start. Captain Meg Lanning top-scored with 49.

South Africa had to chase a revised target of 98 from 13 overs, They collapsed to 24-3 and despite Laura Wolvaardt's valiant unbeaten 41 from just 27 balls were knocked out of the tournament.

--By A Cricket Correspondent

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