When Radha Yadav ran towards the chance offered by Beth Mooney at long-on, there was tension in the air at Lord’s. Under normal circumstances, you would expect Radha to take the catch with ease; she has taken much tougher, more spectacular ones all through her career. She is one of the best fielders in women’s cricket.

But at the Women’s T20 World Cup, she had been going through a terrible time. She was just failing to catch. It looked like she was incapable of even catching a cold. The 26-year-old did catch Mooney, though. And she was relieved and happy, she threw the ball down furiously.

The Women in Blue celebrated. They had posted what appeared to be a competitive total of 170 for four, thanks largely to skipper Harmanpreet Kaur’s brilliant shot-making towards the end. But for her 27-ball 56, Australia would have finished off the match well ahead of schedule.

When Deepti Sharma accounted for Mooney, the Australian scorecard read 68 for three in 9.1 overs. Another 103 runs were still required in less than 11 overs. The Indian players, and the large crowd that came to cheer them on, had reasons to hope.

The one that took it away

Watching Mooney depart was her long-time teammate Ellyse Perry. She was joined by Ashleigh Gardner. Together, they ended India’s hopes of reaching the semifinals.

They forged what was one of the best partnerships you would come across at this level. There was still plenty of batting left for Australia — no team bats as deep as it — but they were determined to finish the job themselves. If one of them had been dismissed, India would have been back in the game. They did not get out until the match was decided. When Perry finally fell, skying a catch to Shafali Verma off the impressive Shree Charani, Australia needed just three to win.

Perry and Gardner showed yet again how crucial they are in a side filled with match-winners. This may be a team in transition, after the retirements of Meg Lanning and Alyssa Healy, but it remains well ahead of main rivals like England and India, especially in the shortest format.

In the semifinal against the West Indies at the Oval on Wednesday, Perry had to go back to the dressing room after playing just seven balls, retired hurt. But it was just a precaution, Mooney would later clarify. Gardner had another starring role. She made an unbeaten 35 off 20 balls to help Australia finish the chase of a very modest total with seven overs to spare.

Back in the groove

She had been amongst the wickets, too. That is good news for Australia ahead of Sunday’s final at Lord’s. Gardner is glad to have got her bowling rhythm back.

“I feel like I probably haven’t had the impact that I would have liked, especially with the ball,” she said shortly after winning the Player-of-the-Match award in the last-four clash. “I’ve probably just been a little bit inconsistent. When Sophie (Molineux) has thrown me the ball, I probably haven’t played the role that she has probably wanted.”

But Gardner delivered against the West Indies, taking two for 13. “In this game, I had that type of performance, certainly when it mattered,” she said. “It is always really pleasing. I guess that it gives me a lot of confidence going forward.”

Shift in mindset

The 29-year-old said it was more of a mindset thing. “I feel like I just tried to make my game really simple. I focused on looking at the stumps when I was bowling. That sounds really silly, but when I was narrowing my focus, I could execute a little better. We knew that keeping the stumps in play for a long period of time, just with the variability in the bounce, really helped.”

Gardner felt that her performance against India was a morale-booster. “Cricket is a very humbling sport at times, but you try to ride that confidence to really utilise it,” she said. “Cricket is such a unique game where you can feel like you are hitting the ball well but then you make no runs. So I guess it is about trying to take out the positives that you can.”

Looking back at Australia’s convincing win over India, Gardner said she enjoyed the 100-run partnership with Perry. “That was one of the best partnerships I have been involved in. There are not too many other people within this unit that I have played so much cricket with. I have played with Perry for well over 10 years now, so we have a great understanding of each other’s game.”

Blindly trusting each other

Both had tremendous trust in each other. “We were really specific and deliberate in the way we were speaking in the middle,” she said. “Understanding each other and giving each other options out there… to have that is pretty cool.”

Perry relished that alliance just as much. “It was a really enjoyable partnership with Ash,” said the woman regarded by many as the greatest female cricketer of all time. “Having had the opportunity to watch the way the first innings played out, we knew that it was sort of possible to accelerate through the middle and back end.”

She was all praise for Gardner’s approach. “The way Ash came out was really important in the context of the game. I thought that she shifted the momentum beautifully. We spoke a lot about targeting the first couple of balls of an over, and she did that incredibly well. It just gave us some momentum in the chase. On a good ground, once you get that, you sort of put yourself in a good position. So, it was a lot of fun.”

Gardner was as effusive in the praise of Perry. “She is like red wine,” Gardner said. “She is someone who has gotten better and better. Just the evolution of her game.. she has known that the global game has gone at such a fast pace and that it doesn’t settle or slow down for anyone. So she knows that she needs to keep up with that pace.”

Gardner admires Perry’s bravery. “It can be quite hard at times when you feel like you don’t have that confidence, but she is someone who always tries to take the game on. For someone with so much experience and so much willingness to keep evolving, it just shows younger players like me that there is no real ceiling on that stuff. She is a fantastic leader within our group, within that space, and generally as well.”

Unique in their own way

While Perry is at the top of her game more often than not, she stressed that every tournament had its own challenges. “This one has been extremely enjoyable and the quality of cricket that has been played right across the competition… the response from the English public to watch the matches has been amazing, too,” she said. “The atmosphere at various grounds has been so cool to play at. Beating India was a real highlight.”

Perry described skipper Molineux as “unique”. “Every captain I play with is unique, but Soph brings a very unique style,” Perry said. “She is such a people’s person. She makes everyone laugh. She knows when to have fun, when to be serious.

“She makes sure that they are heard all the time and are valued for their contribution to the group. I hope that kind of comes across in the way we are playing because it’s been so much fun. It doesn’t guarantee you anything but when you are playing with that kind of enjoyment, it creates an opportunity for a team to do some really good things.”

The two brave women are now ready for the final. They will go into that match at Lord’s with impressive numbers.

Perry has 2,482 T20I runs and 131 wickets, while Gardner, who has played lesser games, has 1,630 runs and 84 wickets.

It is to be recalled that Australia hasn’t won an ICC event since 2023. “Not having any trophies in the cabinet has probably been frustrating over the last 18 months,” Gardner said.

“It is really pleasing that going forward we can take the confidence out of what we have done. Hopefully, we win another trophy on Sunday”.

Radha Yadav celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Ritu Moni of Bangladesh during the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Group A match. Photo Credit: X@BCCIWomen

Hemalatha smashed five fours and two sixes in her unbeaten knock.
| Photo Credit: X/@BCBtigers

Radha Yadav and Dayalan Hemalatha produced an all-round show as a dominant India beat Bangladesh by 19 runs under the Duckworth/Lewis method in a rain-marred second women’s T20 International in Sylhet on Tuesday.

Led by left-arm spinner Radha’s splendid show, Indian bowlers bundled out Bangladesh for 119 after the hosts opted to bat first.

Radha finished with excellent figures of 3/19, while there were two wickets apiece for Deepti Sharma (2/14) and Shreyanka Patil (2/24).

For Bangladesh, opener Murshida Khatun top-scored with 46 off 49 balls.

Chasing a modest total, India lost an early wicket as Shafali Verma (0) was caught down the leg side after she tried to flick it through fine leg.

Hemalatha, however, blazed away to a 24-ball 41 as India raced to 47 for one in 5.2 overs, when the heaven opened up for the second time during the match. Hemalatha smashed five fours and two sixes in her unbeaten knock.

The par score was 28 and the Indian team was ahead by 19 runs, and with the surface rendered unplayable by the heavy rain, the visitors were declared winners.

India thus took a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Earlier, Dilara Akter got the Bangladesh innings underway when she pulled Renuka Singh, the star of the five-match series opener, over mid-wicket for a four in only the second ball of the match.

Akter got into a good position and whipped off her pads a swinging Renuka delivery over backward square leg for a boundary.

An 11-run first over was followed by the wicket of Akter as experienced spinner Deepti Sharma struck with one that was drifting in, which prompted the batter to go for a sweep but she could not get the elevation and ended up giving a catch to Renuka in the deep.

Renuka conceded another boundary when Murshida Khatun came down the track to smash her over mid-off.

India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur then made a mess of a straightforward chance off Renuka after getting both her hands to it, giving Murshida reprieve on 6 after the batter mistimed her shot.

One-down bat Sobhana Mostary opened her account with a boundary as she drove a Renuka delivery past backward point.

Renuka, meanwhile, was proving to be quite wayward on this day as he conceded another wide.

Deepti continued to bowl economically and gave away only three runs in her next over before Harmanpreet replaced a profligate Renuka with medium pacer Pooja Vastrakar. Mostary greeted Vastrakar with two fours, including a lovely cover drive.

There was a bowling change at the other end too, and off-spinner Shreyanka Patil struck in her very first over, having Mostary (19 off 15 balls) trapped in front of the wicket after a promising start by the batter.

Brought into the attack for the first time in the eighth over, left-arm spinner Radha started on a bright note before removing Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana and Fahima Khatun off successive balls.

Radha, however, could not complete a hat-trick as Sultana Khatun struck her for a boundary.

Deepti bowled Ritu Moni for her second wicket, while Radha completed an excellent outing with the ball by having Rabeya Khan stumped.