London: Indian eves on Sunday snatched defeat from the jaws of victory as hosts England won the ICC Women’s World Cup final by 9 runs. Chasing a tricky total of 229, Indian middle-order collapsed like a pack of cards, being bowled out for 219 in 48.4 overs.
It was a case of so near yet so far for the Indian team who would be devastated having come within a sniffing distance of a historic triumph.
The last seven wickets fell for a mere 28 runs in 6.5 overs as India were cruising along at 191 for 3 at one stage before Veda Krishnamurthy’s (35) atrocious shot selection brought the Englishwomen back into the game.
It was after opener Poonam Raut (86, 115 balls) anchored the innings while Harmanpreet Kaur hit a couple of sixes in her innings of 51.
Earlier, the coin landed in the opponents’ favour at the toss was hardly a deterrent as India went about the task in a professional manner. Leading the show was the redoubtable Goswami, who scythed through the English middle-order.
The highlight of the lanky Bengali’s outing was the back-to-back dismissals of Sarah Taylor and Fran Wilson, which pegged England back.
Taylor is a legend of the women’s game and Sciver entered the marquee match on the back of two centuries, and Jhulan had them caught behind and trapped in front of the wicket.
In what could be her last match, Taylor walked off to an ovation from the almost sell-out Lord’s crowd after scoring 45 off 62 balls. The veteran English batswoman, surprisingly, could not hit a boundary in her innings.
The in-from Sciver struck 51 off 68 balls, hitting five boundaries in the process, before her recovery act was cut short by Jhulan in the first ball of the 38th over.
A former ICC Player of the Year, Jhulan finished her spell with impressive figures of 3/23 in the allotted 10 overs, which included three maidens.
The end of Jhulan’s spell proved to be a boon for England, who rode on Katherine Brunt’s 42-ball 34 and Jenny Gunn’s 25 off 38 balls towards the end to sign off with a respectable total.
After Jhulan, leg-spinner Poonam Yadav was the most impressive bowler, finishing with two 2/36 in her quota of 10 overs.
