Commonwealth Games 2022: Australia show the killer instinct India missed

After the initial buzz around women's cricket's debut settled, it was the same old story as the world champions' dominance continued

The gap between Australia and other teams is bigger than ever and you can never know if you are on top against them until you have actually won.

CHENNAI: It was always going to be a day of many firsts. After all, women’s cricket was making its debut in the Commonwealth Games.

Which meant, that every inconsequential event that happened in the game between India and Australia would probably be recorded as trivia i.e first four, first six, first wicket and so on. Apart from all the nitty gritty statistics that would excite a cricket geek, there was more to it.

It was also the first time the Indian women were playing at Edgbaston. Australia were returning to the venue for the first time in 49 years.

They played hosts England who have got to play at one of the important venues in England only twice in their entire history last at Edgbaston in the final of the inaugural World Cup in 1973.

A significant moment nonetheless as all the eight teams would play at the venue through the course of the competition.

If all this was not enough, they were playing on a hybrid pitch — which involves fitting artificial grass on top of soil and then planting natural grass seed over the top.

Something that is new for women’s cricket, even for Australia — who’s been the front-runner in the sport — as they played on a hybrid wicket for the first time.

The competition will see two hybrid pitches (for group stages) and a turf wicket (for medal matches) used across 16 games.

In the lead up to the opening game on Friday, all the buzz in both Indian and Australia camps were about being in the Games Village, sharing space from athletes from other disciplines and playing for a medal.

There were new-look jerseys, not just for the players, but also the umpires’ who were donning a cap that resembled Thomas Shelby from the famous English series Peaky Blinders.

But as India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur opted to bat, the dust settled and it was all about the contest between the bat and ball, just like any other T20 game.

And for the better part of the next three hours, India walked the talk, treating Australia like any other team and dominating them. Smriti Mandhana took on the bowlers from ball one.

She walked down against pacers Darcie Brown and Megan Schutt, used her feet against off-spinner Ashleigh Gardner, racing to 24 off 16 before throwing her hands at a wide delivery off Brown in the third over fourth.

While Shafali Verma tried to take on spinner, letting Yastika Bhatia handle the seamers, the duo, especially the latter struggled to keep the innings going.

Shafali got a life when Meg Lanning misjudged a catch and fell in no man’s land. That seemed to be the turning point as the 19-year-old went berserk, going from 20 off 21 to 48 off 31, despite Bhatia’s dismissal.

But as she fell short of her fifty by two runs, Harmanpreet led the charge.

The Indian captain’s purple patch continued as she smashed a 34-ball 52, with little support from the other end, as they finished with 154/8.

The bigger moment though was India’s bowling powerplay as Renuka Singh Thakur dismissed Alyssa Healy, Meg Lanning, Beth Mooney and Tahlia McGrath, all for single digits, in her first three overs.

Although a couple were off good deliveries and some were inadvertent, India were in a great position, having reduced mighty Australia to 49/5. It seemed like everything was going their way and India were off to a dream start in the Commonwealth Games.

That’s when reality kicked in. The well-oiled machine that Australia are, Gardner (52 n.o), first with Grace Harris (37), and then with the lower-order, made the most of India’s tactical blunders, taking Australia home with no trouble whatsoever, with three wickets and one over to spare.

That Australia scored 108 runs at 9.26 runs per over after losing five wickets said the same old story. The gap between Australia and other teams is bigger than ever and you can never know if you are on top against them until you have actually won.

For all the dreamy start about every small exciting detail that was associated with women’s cricket’s debut in CWG, in the end, the result was nothing new. It only reiterated the troubles that India had all along — role clarity, on-field tactics, fielding fitness and more.

And they would want to address them as best as they can if they were to qualify and beat a top team in the knockout stages of the tournament.

Brief scores: India 154/8 in 50 ovs (Harmanpreet 52, Shafali 48; Jonassen 4/22) lost to Australia 157/7 (Gardner 52 n.o, Harris 37; Renuka 4/18).