India get cold feet, England World Cup

London, July 23

It turned out to be a classic so-near-yet-so-far case for India as they suffered a spectacular middle and lower-order batting collapse to lose by nine runs to England in a nail-biting final of the women’s World Cup here on Sunday. This was the fourth World Cup title for the English girls, while India fell in the final for the second time — they had lost to Australia in the 2005 final.

Chasing a competitive 228, The Indian eves rode on half-centuries from opener Punam Raut and Harmanpreet Kaur to almost knock off the target. Raut played a crucial knock, her steady 86 held up one end and anchored the innings almost past the target. When she was trapped leg-before by England pacer Anya Shrubsole, India were in sight of victory, needing 38 runs from 41 balls with six wickets in hand. The in-form Harmanpreet produced a solid innings of 51 runs, with three boundaries and two hits into the stands. The two added 95 runs for the fourth wicket, putting the Indian innings back on track after the loss of two early wickets. However, the Indian girls developed cold feet towards the end, losing seven wickets for just 28 runs to be all out for 219 runs in 48.4 overs.

Anya turned the match in England’s favour with figures of 6/46 in her 9.4 overs, including the crucial wickets of Punam, Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet and Jhulan Goswami.  Anya, who was adjudged the player of the match, displayed excellent swing and control to trouble the Indian batters. 

Poor start 

The Indians were off to a rocky start when Anya shattered the off-stump of experienced opener Smriti Mandhana in the second over. India skipper Mithali Raj seemed to be in good touch during her 17-run knock. But she fell run-out just when she looked set for a big total. 

Earlier, England posted a competitive total, thanks to crucial contributions from Natalie Sciver (51), Sarah Taylor (45) and Katherine Brunt (34). 

For India, veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami bagged 3/23, while spinner Poonam Yadav took 2/36. After opting to bat, Lauren Winfield (24) and Tammy Beaumont (23) provided the hosts a strong start, putting up 47 runs for the opening wicket. While Indian pace ace Jhulan kept it tight from one end, Sikha Pandey leaked 28 runs in her first spell of four overs. — PTI 

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England 

L Winfield b Gayakwad 24

T Beaumont c Goswami b Yadav 23

S Taylor c Verma b Goswami 45

H Knight lbw b Yadav 1

N Sciver lbw b Goswami 51

F Wilson lbw b Goswami 0

K Brunt run out 34

J Gunn not out 25

L Marsh not out 14

Extras: (lb-3, w-7, nb-1) 11

Total: (For 7 wkts; 50 overs) 228

Fow: 1-47, 2-60, 3-63, 4-146, 5-146, 6-164, 7-196

Bowling

Jhulan Goswami 10-3-23-3

Shikha Pandey 7-0-53-0

Rajeshwari Gayakwad 10-1-49-1

Deepti Sharma 9-0-39-0

Poonam Yadav 10-0-36-2

Harmanpreet Kaur 4-0-25-0

India 

P Raut lbw b Shrubsole 86

S Mandhana b Shrubsole 0

M Raj run out (Sciver/Taylor) 17

H Kaur c Beaumont b Hartley 51

V Krishnamurthy c Sciver b Shrubsole 35

S Verma b Hartley 0

D Sharma c Sciver b Shrubsole 14

J Goswami b Shrubsole 0

S Pandey run out 4

P Yadav not out 1

R Gayakwad b Shrubsole 0

Extras: (W 7, NB 1, LB3) 11

Total: (all out in 48.4 overs) 219

FOW: 1-5 2-43 3-138 4-191 5-196 6-200 7-201 8-218 9-218 10-219 

Bowling

K Brunt 6-0-22-0

A Shrubsole 9.4-0-46-6

N Sciver 5.0-1-26-0

J Gunn 7-2-17-0

L Marsh 10-1-40-0

A Hartley 10-0-58-2

H Knight 1-0-7-0