CWG 2022 | Australia women win Gold, beat India by nine runs in the final

India women were so close yet so far to clinch gold on Sunday in the final of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Australia. After being set 162, they were 118/2 in 14.2 overs, requiring 44 runs off 38 balls before things went out of their hands. Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues shine with the bat after India lost their prolific openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma early. The Kaur-Rodrigues duo forged a 96-run stand for the third wicket before Megan Schutt cleaned Rodrigues (33 off 33 balls) to trigger a collapse.

Skipper Kaur (65 off 43 balls) fell in the over, bowled by Ash Gardner. Except for Deepti Sharma (13 off 8 balls), others made little impact to get the job done against a well-experienced Australian attack. As a result, India women were all out for 152 in 19.3 overs.

For Australia, Schutt (2-27) and Gardner (3-0-16-3) shared five wickets while Darcie Brown and Jess Jonassen took a wicket each. The other three Indian wickets fell courtesy of some brilliant fielding display by the Australians.

Earlier, Australia failed to carry the momentum after Beth Mooney (61 off 41 balls) gave them a solid start. They lost five wickets for 36 runs in the final five overs before closing on 161/8, but that was enough at the end. For India, Renuka Singh Thakur shone again, returning 2-25.