India-W crash out of T20 World Cup after heartbreak against Australia-W
The Indian women's cricket team's Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 campaign ended heartbreakingly after they were eliminated from the tournament following a loss to Australia in the final group stage match. While Lord’s witnessed an impressive batting performance from the Women in Blue in the second half of the first innings, their bowlers failed to live up to the lofty expectations pinned on them.
Winning the toss, India opted to bat first. Shafali Verma (34) and Smriti Mandhana (38) got off to a decent start. Verma was the aggressor-in-chief with three fours and two sixes. The two added 66 runs for the opening stand before Sophie Molineux eventually dismissed Verma.
Mandhana fell soon after, causing India to lose significant momentum in the middle overs. Jemimah Rodrigues (34) tried her best to anchor the innings but the boundaries didn’t come until the last two overs. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur brought forth an explosion at the end, smashing 56 off just 27 balls, hitting six fours and three sixes at a strike rate of 207.41.
Much to her woe, however, she didn’t get any support from the other end to up the scoring rate. India concluded their innings with 170/4 at the end of their 20 overs.
With the ball, Renuka Singh dealt an early blow, dismissing Georgia Voll (4). However, Australia had enough firepower to iron out the early kinks. Beth Mooney (22) and Phoebe Litchfield (24) steadied the Aussie ship before two of their best batters walked out to the center.
The two added 50 runs for the second wicket before Sree Charani struck to remove Litchfield while Deepti Sharma got rid of Mooney in quick succession. Struggling at 68/3, it felt like that India were in cruise control. However, Australia had their fears dispelled as a seasoned Ellyse Perry took over the reins.
Joined by Ashleigh Gardner in the middle, Pez hunkered down to business and the two stitched together a century stand for the fourth wicket and eventually ran away with the game. Pez smashed 56 off 38 while Gardner stayed unbeaten with 53 off just 29 balls. Australia secured the game with an over and six wickets to spare. Sree Charani was the pick of bowling lot with figures of 2/32.
