A sensational fielding performance by the Indian women’s cricket team was the highlight of the Commonwealth Games final against Australia as they restricted them to 161.
But Australia, who has been dominating world cricket, fought back to secure an incredible victory. India were cruising with captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues putting on 98 runs and at one stage the team needed just 44 runs off 34 balls with eight wickets in hand to win.
But Australia, who have won the T20 World Cup title and recently the 50 overs tournament, know how to win big games. They held their nerves and sadly the women in blue felt the pressure and collapsed losing their last eight wickets for 34 runs and had to be content with the silver medal.
So near yet so far
It must be heart breaking for India as they had come very close in the 50 overs World Cup in England in 2017 and once again they were almost there but could not cross the line and lost the final by 9 runs. It was a case of once again so near yet so far.
Australia came in to the tournament as favourites and they showed their quality once again by winning a game from a losing position. They carried the legacy - created by the men’s team - forward to win the gold medal.
Their self-belief is phenomenal. They don’t know when they are beaten and do a jail break every time they are put in a corner.
