Commonwealth Games final: India and Australia participated in a closely contested tense final at Edgbaston tonight.
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During the final match of Commonwealth Games 2022 Women’s Cricket Competition between India Women and Australia Women in Birmingham, Australia beat India by 9 runs to continue their domination both over this opposition and in this format.
In fact, Australia have been able to achieve a historic triplet of being the ODI, T20I and Commonwealth Games champions (all under Meg Lanning) at the same time.
That said, winning the gold medal at Edgbaston was possible only after participating in a quintessential closely contested tense final. In spite of being pushed on the back foot for a considerable duration by India, Australia put forth their A-game when it mattered the most. Seizing crucial moments played a vital role in Australia defending a 162-run target tonight.
Sourav Ganguly remarks Commonwealth Games final was India’s game to win vs Australia at Edgbaston
Former India captain and current BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) President Sourav Ganguly took to social media platform Twitter to congratulate the Indian team on winning a silver medal in the Commonwealth Games.
However, Ganguly also opined that the match was for India to win especially after batter Jemimah Rodrigues (33) and captain Harmanpreet Kaur (65) had bailed them out of trouble.
Congratulations to the Indian women’s team for winning silver ..But they will go home disappointed as it was their game tonite ..@BCCIWomen
— Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) August 7, 2022
Having lost opening batters Smriti Mandhana (6) and Shafali Verma (11) in the first three overs, India were rescued by a 71-ball 96-run third-wicket partnership between Rodrigues and Kaur. Needing 44 runs to win off 34 balls, India lost Rodrigues, all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar (1) and Kaur within the next nine deliveries.
The initiation of a downward spiral had no coming back for India as they ended up on the losing side in yet another knockout match of a multi-team tournament.
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Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan also tweeted on similar lines believing that the game was in India’s hands.
I thought the game was in our hand. Nevertheless congratulations on the silver @BCCIWomen #CommonwealthGames2022
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) August 7, 2022
A primary reason why this heartbreaking loss is hurting fans quite a lot is because India had also lost the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup final to Australia some 30 months ago. As far as losing close finals in England is concerned, India had also lost the 2017 Cricket World Cup final by 9 runs.
