The Indian women’s cricket team had a fantastic performance at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Cricket Competition, but the night of the finals couldn’t fully justify what they had achieved.
Harmanpreet Kaur’s captain’s knock and some outstanding bowling and fielding efforts on Sunday at Edgbaston were not enough for India to win the gold medal in the 2022 Commonwealth Games. And while everyone is aware that they had a chance to win the gold medal, they won the silver instead, which will go down in history as the first-ever silver medal in the Commonwealth Games cricket competition was won by team India.
A journey to remember – Indian Women cricket team at CWG 2022
Team India started their campaign against Australia in a group a match on July 29. Batting first, they set the target of 155 for the Aussies to chase, with Renuka Singh picking up 4 early wickets to put the current T20 champions on back foot, but due to lack of support from other bowlers, Australian batters soaked the early wickets pressure and won the game by 3 wickets.
After losing the first game, India were ready to play their second and do-or-die match against Pakistan, in which the Harmanpreet-led side outshined the neighbours and clinched a comfortable victory by 8 wickets.
Their third and final match was with Barbados, who had also won 1 and lost 1 in their first 2 games, but with medal in mind, Indians didn’t give any chance to Barbados to stay in the game as after putting 162 on board, Indian bowlers restricted Barbados to just 62 to win the game by 100 runs and qualify for the semi-final.
The semi-final game on Saturday was looking tough as it was against mighty England.
For the Indian fans, an overwhelming majority in the crowd that turned up at the Edgbaston Stadium, it may have brought back unpleasant memories of the 2017 women’s World Cup final between India and England when the Women In Blue shockingly went down to the host by nine runs at Lord’s.
But this new Indian team is known for fighting approach as they made it true by defeating the hosts in front of their crowd in the semi-final to reach to their first-ever final of the commonwealth games cricket event.
The final game so many ups and downs through the 35 overs of the match. India were at 118 for 3 with 5 overs game to play and the women in blue required 44 with both set batter Harmanpreet (63 off 40) Kaur on crease. But as soon as Indian skipper got out, Australia, the current champions of T20I and Ashes, showed their power and restricting India to 152 to claim the gold medal.
It is true that Australia won the gold, but the kind of dedication, self-belief and dedication Indian women’s cricket team displayed in the marquee event, is a win in itself.
