INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
NEW DELHI: Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana scored a career-best 87 as India qualified for the semi-finals of the ICC Womens T20 World Cup on
Monday after signing up a five-run victory, through DLS technique, over Ireland in a rain-affected match at St Georges Park in
Gqeberha.Chasing a competitive 157-run target, Ireland, who were already out of semi-final contention, were 54 for 2 in 8.2 overs when rain
The match was called-off after a wait of an hour or two, paving way for India to advance further in the tournament.As it occurred: India vs
IrelandWith the victory, India ended up the group stage with six points from 4 games
Currently, they are in 2nd position in Group B, behind England (six points from three video games), who have a much better net run rate at
England will play Pakistan on Tuesday in their last group video game, which will decide the last positioning in the group
India will play Australia in the semi-final if they complete 2nd in the group standings.Earlier, Mandhana (87 off 56 balls) and Shafali
Verma (24 off 29) helped India post 155 for 6 in their 20 overs.Irelands run chase then left to a disastrous start, losing two wickets in
the very first over bowled by in-form pacer Renuka Thakur Singh
Opener Amy Hunter was gone out off the first ball, while choosing a 2nd run
4 balls later on, Renuka tidy bowled Orla Prendergast to decrease Ireland to 1 for 2 in 0.5 overs.Gaby Lewis (32 not out off 25) and skipper
Laura Delany (17 * off 20) added an important fifty-run stand to resurrect the Ireland run chase, before the rain came to play spoilsport
Play did not resume thereafter.At that point, Ireland required 102 runs in 70 balls and were five runs behind the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern par
This is Indias third successive semifinal appearance following the one in 2018 and runners-up complete in 2020
With the win, last editions runners-up India bounced back from the 11-run defeat to England in their previous match.After choosing to bat
first, India were off to a fine start with the opening duo of Mandhana and Shafali putting on 62 runs in just under 10 overs.But Shafali
once again got out after getting a start, caught by Amy Hunter off the bowling of captain Delany, who presented herself into the attack
after the frontline bowlers failed to get the group a breakthrough.Harmanpreet joined Mandhana in the middle, and the two sought to build on
Playing strokes ended up being challenging on a surface area that seemed a bit on the slower side.The sluggish nature of the wicket
regardless of, Mandhana maintained an exceptional strike rate and reached her half-century in style, hitting leg-spinner Cara Murray for a
Mandhana was fortunate to have actually endured a scare right before getting to her fifty, but Arlene Kelly could not complete the catch
after the batter top-edged a tossed-up shipment from Murray towards mid-wicket
Mandhana then struck two succeeding fours off Georgina Dempsey, prior to sending out Delany over the cow corner for another maximum.Ireland
returned with the wickets of Harmanpreet and Richa Ghosh in succeeding balls, however Mandhana continued to assault the bowlers and hit 2
more boundaries off Kelly before giving the very same treatment to Delany, striking her for a 4 and a six to assist India inch towards 150
A century was on the cards, but Mandhanas fantastic innings pertained to an end as she tried to take the aerial route.Jemimah Rodrigues
struck two fours in the last over, before leaving in the last ball of the India innings for a 12-ball 19.(With inputs from PTI)
