Women’s T20 World Cup 2020: 2003 all over again, India lose to Australia in final

It almost felt like we had boarded a time machine and gone back 17 years — to 2003, to Johannesburg. The difference being, instead of Sourav Ganguly commanding his troops, it was Harmanpreet Kaur and co. who were crumbling against the formidable Australians.

Indeed, much like the men’s team of 2003, the Indian women’s cricket team, on Sunday, surrendered to the might of the Aussies in the final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Melbourne.

Winning the toss, Australia took the safest route — of setting a target in a big final and defend it. The biggest challenge for them was going to be how they handle India's never-arriving tweakers. However, the surface was rock hard along withn some nice grass on it, which meant that the spinners did not get much assistance.

Healy and Beth Mooney, the two Australian openers, had their minds set on making the most out of the powerplay overs and they did. While Mooney played the role of an anchor, Healy went on a blitzkrieg. After six overs, Australia had reached 49 runs without losing any wickets.

Of course, if there was anyone to blame, the Indians had to point fingers at themselves. Both Healy and Mooney were dropped early on, Shafali Verma and Rajeshwari Gayakwad being the two culprits. Healy would go on to make a health 75 from just 39 balls, a knock studded with 7 boundaries and 5 sixes.

However, by the time she got out, Australia had already put up 115-odd runs in 11 overs. From then, Mooney took charge and ensured that her team got to the big total that they were poised for.

The Indian bowlers were largely disappointing, especially Shikha Pandey who conceded 52 runs in her 4 overs. The spinners did manage to slow things down a tad bit towards the death over but still, 185 was always going to be difficult.

The pressure was on the young Shafali and Smriti Mandhana. A solid start was much needed and if anyone could provide it, it was the duo. But both were dismissed cheaply. Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet also departed soon as Australia managed to wipe off the cream of Indian batting line up.

After that it was only a question of when and not who as Australia were quite comfortably on course to their fifth World T20 title. India were handed to a big 85-run loss.

Here's how Twitter drew similarities between 2003 World Cup and the 2020 World Cup:

https://twitter.com/mohanstatsman/status/1236585998630281218

https://twitter.com/Gauravpace/status/1236562898366787587

https://twitter.com/AvialR/status/1236573801879465984

http://twitter.com/anpadhgawar/status/1236563402496991232