India settles for Silver at CWG 2022 in a thrilling final

Edgbaston stayed witness to an absolutely dramatic thriller as the Indian women fell short of the glorious Promised Land by just 9 runs in a high-scoring encounter. India had to be content with a silver medal after an arduous journey that featured a handful of swashbuckling displays.

The grand finale at the Commonwealth Games 2022 started on a controversial note after Tahlia McGrath decided to field herself despite testing positive for COVID-19 a few hours ahead of the game. Australia won the toss and elected to bat first on an Edgbaston surface that had ample on offer for the ones wielding the willow.

Despite the early scalp of Alyssa Healy, Australia set into the groove quite comfortably, courtesy of a roaring partnership between Beth Mooney and Meg Lanning. The duo put together a solid stand of 83 before Radha Yadav would pull off a ripper in the field to remove the Australian skipper.

Tahlia McGrath would survive for a very short span of time as Radha conjured another on-field pearler to remove the batter, allowing India to make inroads against a surging Australian batting line-up. Despite a fine roar from Ashleigh Gardner in the middle overs, the Indian bowling unit would pull off a commendable job to reel Australia back in as they finished on 161 for 6.

Much to India’s woes, chasing a vertiginous total on the cards, the women in blue would lose a couple of early wickets including the likes of in-form Smriti Mandhana and hard-hitting Shafali Verma within just 3 overs of the chase.

Despite the early double whammy, a steady stand between Jemimah Rodrigues and captain Harmanpreet Kaur would catapult the Indian contingent to safety and within glancing distance of a remarkable gold medal.

However, in crunch matches like these, the fall of one wicket can lead to the watershed washing away the entire resilience of a side and allowing the ones on the backfoot to claw back in. That is exactly what happened with Team India as the remaining half of their batting line-up couldn’t sustain the pressure against the formidable Australian bowling.

Kaur would finish with an excellent 65 while Jemimah’s 33 would be the second-highest score for an otherwise struggling Indian batting unit. In a battle of nerves, India would once again slip up in the dying embers, gifting the gold to the women in yellow. With all said and done, this was a quality display from the Indian unit and Smriti Mandhana had another crackling tournament, as the team finished with a silver for the Women in Blue on the distant shores of Birmingham.