Editor’s Pick(Women’s Cricket): India England

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the ICC Women’s World Cup Finals 2017, where India take on England after demolishing the seemingly unbeatable Australia. Let’s take a quick look at what happened.

When Australia came in to bat, they faced a mammoth target of 282. That by itself could have shaken their confidence. They lost three wickets. Villani and the ever dependable Ellyse Perry attempted to get the chase back on track with a century-stand but once Villani was out, the rest of the team crumbled eventually. Deepti picked up three wickets with Goswami (who took Villani’s wicket) and Pandey supporting her.
India opted to bat first. The start was not one of their best yet. After losing two early wickets, Raj and Kaur got the team together with their 66-run partnership for the third wicket. This helped build a solid ground for the next few batsmen to add runs to. Kaur’s innings included 20 fours and 7 sixes. An innings worth watching again. The Indians gave the Aussies a total of 282.
The knock produced by Harmanpreet Kaur was indeed world class. It could not have come at a better time. Her knock helped in knocking Australia out of the tournament and in style. The Aussies were truly dazed by this performance. So are we.
India won the match to seal the spot in the finals. This victory against six time world cup winners is bound to take the confidence of the Women In Blue to a whole new level. India now looks at their opportunity to conquer their maiden world cup title. This is India’s second world cup final. The first one came in 2005 against Australia. Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami are the only players from the 2005 team to see a second attempt for the coveted title. They will appreciate it all the more.

And as I wrote in my previous blog, the team is just beyond thrilled to have beaten them in the semi-finals.

The final is being played at the Iconic Lords. It is a batting pitch. Pace tends to win wickets.
Let’s take a look at what our lineup could be and hope we also win something on the Fantain App.

Batsmen

Veda Krishnamurthy

Mithali Raj

Fran Wilson

Heather Knight

Bowlers

Poonam Yadav

Anya Shrubsole

R Gayakwad

Jhulan Goswami

Wicket-keepers

Sarah Taylor

Sushma Verma

All-Rounder

Harmanpreet Kaur

Mandhana’s form is a cause for concern. She will look to bounce back in the finals. She did well against England and performs well against pace bowling. Mithali and Kaur have proven to be reliable. Hope Kaur does not have any shoulder injury that should keep her from performing well tomorrow. If you have doubts, you can replace her with Nat Sciver.
R Gayakwad along with Goswami are able to rein in the runs.

Alternate lineup

Batsmen
Mithali Raj
Smriti Mandhana
Punam Raut
Veda Krishnamurthy
Fran Wilson
Heather Knight
Bowlers
Jhulan Goswami
Punam Yadav
Katherine Brunt
Wicket-Keeper
Sushma Verma
All-Rounder
Nat Sciver

If India wins, they will be only the fourth team to do so after Australia, England, and New Zealand. “Playing the hosts in their own country is going to be a challenge but this unit is up for it,” Raj said. India has beaten England before in this tournament. Time for an encore.

England made it to the finals after defeating South Africa by two wickets. They seem to have made some changes and it has clicked so far. It will be a close match for sure.
Let’s support the women wholly and tell them that we are proud of them. That they deserve all the love that we can give. That they need not prove anything to anyone anymore. That we are indeed proud of them.
Show us your love and support on our app.

Indu

P.S. Please note that the above-expressed opinions are purely the Editor’s. We do not take responsibility, nor can we guarantee the performance of the players. All the best !!!