Courtesy: ICC/X
Harmanpreet Kaur, the captain of Indian women’s cricket team, dropped a sitter off a catch of her opposing counterpart Tahlia McGrath of Australia in a vital Group A clash of the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 in the UAE. The Indian fielders weren’t quite at their best throughout the Australian batting innings, allowing the defending champions to get a formidable score of 151/8 in their allotted overs at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
For the unversed, the drop catch happened in the 12th over of the Australian innings when Tahlia McGrath nailed a length delivery from Indian left-arm spinner Radha Yadav towards the cover region. Harmanpreet Kaur, who was stationed in the area, had enough time to react to the crisp stroke from the Australian captain, but in her attempt to grab hold of the ball, it spilled out of her hand in an uncharacteristic manner.
Grace Harris top scored for Australia with 40 off 41 versus India in Women's T20 World Cup 2024 clash
But fortunately for Radha Yadav, it took only a couple of more deliveries for her to get the better of Tahlia McGrath, getting her stumped via Richa Ghosh for 32 off 26. Moreover, in the Australian innings, Ellyse Perry was also dismissed on an identical score as her captain, while Grace Harris scored 40 off 41 on a pitch which provided decent assistance to the spinners as the night progressed.
Below are the playing XI of India and Australia for the all-important Group A match in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024:
India: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Jemimah Rodriguez, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Asha Sobhana, Renuka Singh
Australia: Beth Mooney (wk), Grace Harris, Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath (c), Georgia Wareham, Annabel Sutherland, Sophie Molineux, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown
