West Indies Women knock India out of World T20 to enter semi-final

MOHALI: After an incisive spell of spin bowling from Anuja Patil and Harmanpreet Kaur had kept West Indies to 114, it was up to their batting to click and ensure that India women kept their semi-final hopes alive, even though they required England to beat Pakistan later in the day.
The equation however, never got down to the England-Pakistan fixture as India's batswomen huffed and puffed, before finally falling short by three runs.The defeat means that even with the best run-rate in the group, we have seen the last of India women in the World T20.
A target of 115 wasn't the most difficult to get. It was just plain irresponsible batting from them. It wasn't the best of starts for India women, with skipper Mithali Raj nicking the first legitimate ball of the innings to the wicketkeeper. Two deliveries later, when the umpire couldn't spot a faint edge from Veda Krishnamurthy, you had an inkling that India's chase wasn't going to be smooth sailing. Quick to get back on track, Krishnamurthy thumped a pull off Shamilia Connell for a four and followed it with three more in the next over. However, her stay wouldn't last long as West Indies' first bowling change worked right away when Deandra Dottin removed India's other opener.
Harmanpreet, who had done her bit with the ball earlier in the innings with 4/23, needed to do something similar with the bat as she joined Smriti Mandhana. The pair did well to cut down on shots and rotate the strike for a while, but the one aerial shot that was played saw Kaur lob an easy catch to Stacy-Ann King. With boundaries being few and far, Mandhana decided to open up and danced down to Anisa Mohammed for the first six of the match. But just when it seemed that the impetus had been regained with the six and Patil having hit a four down the ground, Mandhana played on.
Shaquana Quintyne and Fletcher pulled things back for their side. The equation was 49 off 39, before it became 39 off 29 and finally down to 29 off 18 that Patil scored the first boundary for India in five overs. But as the pattern had been throughout the innings, a four or a six was followed by a wicket; this time Patil out leg-before to Quintyne. When 20 off 12 looked improbable, a six from Jhulan gave India hope. But again, a run out off the next ball kept the trend alive. In the end, they couldn't score 10 off six with Dottin bowling a neat final over.
Patil and Harmanpreet's combined effort of seven for 39 sent the West Indies innings in doldrums even though they tried to rally through skipper Stephanie Taylor and Dottin. Lack of support from the remaining players meant that they were kept to a below-average total. Taylor almost played through the innings before being dismissed in the 18th over having scored a required 45-ball 47. She had fought well and resisted a testing period of middle overs where the Indian spinners were virtually unplayable. She put on the only worthy stand of the innings - 77 off a testing 65 deliveries with Dottin, but that was West Indies' need of the hour as they were restricted to three for 26 in the seventh over.
Their openers started slow, even though Jhulan Goswami went for three fours in her first two overs, which also turned out to be the last she bowled in the game. Mithali Raj plucked a leaf out of MS Dhoni and introduced Ekta Bisht to open from the other end, who settled into a wonderful stump-to-stump line, not giving the openers enough room to play shots.
The ploy worked. Hayley Matthews, giving herself room, missed a straighter one. Jhulan was replaced by Patil, who struck with her second delivery trapping the dangerous Kyshona Knight for a blob. New batswomen Shaquana Quintyne had a hard time rotating the strike and was squared up by Patil for her second wicket. With three down and not much on the board in seven overs, Taylor and Dottin weathered the storm.
Dottin cracked a few crisp boundaries. Both players made the most of it loose deliveries. Jhulan endured a hard time on the field as well - a boundary going past her legs wasn't up to the standard Mithali and Co. had set. A slog sweep followed soon and a rank full toss on middle was smoked over midwicket that brought up the 50-run stand. Taylor took the same approach, hitting anything slack on offer.
It wasn't until the 18th over that the West Indies slide began. Indian spinners returned to take six wickets for 11 runs. West Indies lost both Taylor and Dottin in a span of eight deliveries, both falling to extravagant shots off Kaur. She finished with four wickets for 23, three of which came in the final over. West Indies tail swung hard but connected nothing.
Brief Scores: West Indies women 114/8 in 20 overs (Taylor 47, Dottin 45; Harmanpreet 4/23) beat India women 111/9 (Patil 26, Jhulan 25; Dottin 3/16) by three runs.